Printed Copy Variations

Textual and Graphical Variants
Bindings and Insertions
Spatial Variants (Drifts)

The printed copy variations indicated with highlighted text and a dotted underline include stop-press changes, missing characters, binding states, inserted materials, and selected spatial and typographical differences caused by the printing process. Clicking on these variations produces a list of associated copies and images.





View side-by-side images (new window)
[Front cover] Note: State A binding. Green cloth. On sides, title and triple rule border goldstamped, floral ornaments blindstamped. On spine, floral ornaments and title goldstamped. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Joel Myerson notes "significant slippage of the blocks used for the blindstamped leaf-and-vine designs of the front and back covers in bindings A and B" (Walt Whitman: A Descriptive Bibliography [Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993], 18). Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) AAS_01 AC_01 BC_01 BGSU_01 BPL_02 BU_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_05 CMU_01 CPL_01 CU_01 CoU_01 CoU_02 CoU_03 DC_01 DU_01 DU_02 DU_04 DrU_01 EU_01 GC_01 HL_01 HL_02 HL_03 HSP_01 HU_01 HU_04 HU_06 JHU_01 KSU_01 LCP_01 LC_01 LC_03 LC_04 LC_07 LC_11 LC_12 LC_14 LMU_01 LU_03 MC_01 MC_02 NIU_02 NLS_01 NL_01 NU_01 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 NYPL_08 NYPL_09 NYPL_10 NYPL_11 NYPL_12 OWU_01 PAA_01 PC_01 PC_02 PC_03 PC_04 PC_05 PC_08 PC_11 PC_12 PC_14 PC_16 PC_17 PC_18 PC_19 PML_01 PML_03 PU_01 PU_02 PU_03 RC_01 SUNYBu_01 TCU_01 UCB_02 UCLA_01 UCLA_02 UD_01 UH_01 UI_01 UKy_01 UMi_01 UMn_01 UNCC_01 UP_01 UP_02 URI_01 USC_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_04 UVa_09 UVa_10 UnC_01 VAM_01 WC_01 WC_02 WC_05 WFU_01 WFU_02 WU_01 WWH_01 WeC_01 YU_02 YU_03
[Front cover] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Joel Myerson notes "significant slippage of the blocks used for the blindstamped leaf-and-vine designs of the front and back covers in bindings A and B" (Walt Whitman: A Descriptive Bibliography [Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993], 18). Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05
[Front cover] Note: State C binding. Printed paper wrapper: blue; pink; tan (faded green?). White end papers. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_13 NYPL_02 UVa_07 YU_06


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Endpaper] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Flyleaf] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)


—————

"LEAVES OF GRASS."—We some time since had occasion to call the attention of our readers to this original and striking collection of poems, by Mr. Whitman of Brooklyn. In so doing we could not avoid noticing certain faults which seemed to us to be prominent in the work. The following opinion, from a distinguished source, views the matter from a more positive and less critical stand-point:

"CONCORD, Mass., July 21, 1855.

"DEAR SIR:

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of 'Leaves of Grass.' I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It makes the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were making our western wits fat and mean. "I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment which so delights us, and which large perception only can inspire. "I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the sold sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging. "I did not know until I last night saw the book advertised in a newspaper that I could trust the name as real and available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, and have felt much like striking my tasks and visiting New-York to pay you my respects.

"WALT. WHITMAN."

"R. W. EMERSON."

Note: These copies include a newspaper clipping from the New York Tribune with a transcription of Ralph Waldo Emerson's July 21, 1855, letter to Walt Whitman. At the bottom of the clipping in the University of Iowa copy is the note, written in Whitman's hand: "Tribune Oct 10 1855." Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) NYPL_04 UH_01 UI_01


—————

CONCORD, Mass'tts, 21 July, 1855.

DEAR SIR,

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of "LEAVES OF GRASS." I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were making our western wits fat and mean. I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment which so delights us, and which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging. I did not know until I last night saw the book advertised in a newspaper that I could trust the name as real and available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, and have felt much like striking my tasks and visiting New-York to pay you my respects.

R. W. EMERSON.

WALT WHITMAN.

Note: These copies include a slip with a printed version of Ralph Waldo Emerson's July 21, 1855, letter to Walt Whitman. These slips are typically pasted onto the endpaper or a flyleaf at the front or back of the volume. Most of these printed slips include the text "[Copy for the convenience of private reading only.]" On several of the slips this text has been crossed out in pencil. For more discussion of Whitman's lifelong practice of printing slips, see Michael Winship, "Walt Whitman," Bibliography of American Literature, Vol. 9 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), 28-103; Jay Grossman, "Manuprint" (forthcoming in the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review), and Peter Stallybrass, "Manufacturing Manuscript: Walt Whitman's 'Slips'" (forthcoming in the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review). Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) BPL_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 CoU_02 HU_04 HU_05 NYPL_12 PC_08 PC_17 PML_04 PU_02 SUNYBi_01 TU_01 UVa_09 VAM_01 WC_02


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Frontispiece leaf] Note: State B frontispiece. Printed on thin China paper which is mounted on an inserted sheet of heavy paper. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BYU_01 BaU_01 CAI_01 GeC_01 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_13 LU_01 MSU_01 NIU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_02 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 PC_09 PML_04 PSU_01 RC_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 UC_01 UC_02 UM_01 UMi_01 UP_03 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_07 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_05 YU_06
View side-by-side images (new window)
[Frontispiece engraving] Note: These copies feature a frontispiece state with an enhanced crotch. See Ted Genoways, "'One goodshaped and wellhung man': Accented Sexuality and the Uncertain Authorship of the Frontispiece to the 1855 Edition of Leaves of Grass," in Susan Belasco, Ed Folsom, and Kenneth M. Price, eds., Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007). Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 DU_01 DU_02 DU_03 DU_04 HL_02 KSU_01 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_11 LC_12 LC_14 PA_01 PC_03 PC_04 UI_01 UNCCH_01 UNL_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_09 UVa_10
[Frontispiece engraving] Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_13 PC_02 UNCCH_02 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_07 UVa_08


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves
of
Grass.
View side-by-side images (new window)
London: Wm. Horsell, 492, Oxford-street.
Note: Copies with the London label are listed in Myerson as a second (English) issue (A 2.1.a2). Image: Williams College Open copies in bibliography (new window) HL_03 JHU_01 LC_14 NYPL_12 PC_17 PML_03 VAM_01 WC_05 YU_02


—————

London: Wm. Horsell, 492, Oxford-street.
Note: Copies with the London label are listed in Myerson as a second (English) issue (A 2.1.a2). Image: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University Open copies in bibliography (new window) DU_04

Brooklyn, New York:

1855.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855, by WALTER WHITMAN, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. Note: State B copyright page. (Myerson second state.) Copyright notice printed in two lines. Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) AAS_01 AC_01 AC_02 BC_01 BGSU_01 BL_01 BPL_01 BPL_02 BSU_01 BU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 CAI_01 CC_01 CMU_01 CPL_01 CU_01 CWRU_01 CoU_01 CoU_02 CoU_03 DC_01 DU_01 DU_02 DU_03 DU_04 DrU_01 EU_01 GC_01 GeC_01 HC_01 HL_01 HL_02 HL_03 HSP_01 HU_01 HU_02 HU_03 HU_04 HU_05 HU_06 JHU_01 KB_01 KSU_01 LCP_01 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 LMU_01 LU_01 LU_02 LU_03 MC_01 MC_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NIU_02 NLS_01 NL_01 NSUG_01 NU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_02 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 NYPL_08 NYPL_09 NYPL_10 NYPL_11 NYPL_12 OSU_01 OWU_01 OWU_02 PAA_01 PC_02 PC_03 PC_04 PC_05 PC_06 PC_07 PC_08 PC_09 PC_10 PC_11 PC_12 PC_13 PC_14 PC_15 PC_16 PC_17 PC_18 PC_19 PML_01 PML_02 PML_03 PML_04 PSU_01 PU_01 PU_02 PU_03 RC_01 SUNYBi_01 SUNYBu_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TCU_01 TPL_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCB_02 UCLA_01 UCLA_02 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_01 UD_02 UH_01 UI_01 UKy_01 UM_01 UMi_01 UMn_01 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNCC_01 UNL_01 UP_01 UP_02 UP_03 URI_01 UR_01 USC_01 USC_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UWM_01 UnC_01 VAM_01 WC_01 WC_03 WC_04 WC_05 WFU_01 WFU_02 WUSL_01 WU_01 WWH_01 WWH_02 WeC_01 YU_01 YU_02 YU_03 YU_04 YU_05 YU_06
[Blank] Note: State A copyright page. (Myerson first state.) Blank. Image: Williams College Open copies in bibliography (new window) WC_02
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1855, by Walter Whitman in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. Note: State A copyright page. (Myerson first state.) The notice is written in four lines in Whitman's hand. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) UVa_10
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by Walter Whitman in the Clerks office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of the State of New York. Note: State A copyright page. (Myerson first state.) The notice is written in four lines in Whitman's hand. Image: Providence Athanæum Open copies in bibliography (new window) PA_01



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -




AMERICA does not repel the past or what it has produced under its forms or amid other politics or the idea of castes or the old religions . . . .
document location text
loc.00141 #tw07 American under takes receives with calmness the spirit of the past
accepts the lesson with calmness . . . is not so impatient as has been supposed that the slough still sticks to opinions and manners and literature while the life which served its requirements has passed into the new life of the new forms . . . perceives that the corpse is slowly borne from the eating and sleeping rooms of the house . . . 
document location text
loc.00141 #tw07 American under takes receives with calmness the spirit of the past
perceives that it waits a little while in the door . . . that it was fittest for its days . . . 
that its action has descended to the stalwart and wellshaped heir who approaches . . . 
and that he shall be fittest for his days.

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature.
The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.
document location text
rut.00010 #q01 America herself appears (she does not at all appear hitherto) in the spirit and the form of her poems, and all other literary works.—
In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most stirring appear tame and orderly to their ampler largeness and stir.
document location text
loc.00141 #ab11 vast and tremendous is the scheme! It involves no less than constructing a state nation of nations—a state whose integral state whose grandeur and comprehensiveness of territory and people make the mightiest of the past almost insignificant—and
Here at last is something in the doings of man that corresponds with the broadcast doings of the day and night.
Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations.
document location text
loc.00141 #ab11 vast and tremendous is the scheme! It involves no less than constructing a state nation of nations—a state whose integral state whose grandeur and comprehensiveness of territory and people make the mightiest of the past almost insignificant—and
Here is action untied from strings necessarily blind to particulars and details magnificently moving in vast masses.
Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes . . . . Here are the roughs and beards and space and ruggedness and nonchalance that the soul loves.
Here the performance disdaining the trivial unapproached in the tremendous audacity of its crowds and groupings and the push of its perspective spreads with crampless and flowing breadth and showers its prolific and splendid extravagance.
One sees it must indeed own the riches of the summer and winter, and need never be bankrupt while corn grows from the ground or the orchards drop apples or the bays contain fish or men beget children upon women.
document location text
nyp.00549 #seg02 He owns the solid ground and tills it and reaps from every field and harvests fro the cotton and grain, dried grass. ^ the timothy and the clovers.—.—
#q02 All the woods and all the orchards—the corn, with its ear and stalks and tassels—the buckwheat with and its sweet white blossoms tops where and the bees ^ that hum ^ there all day—

Other states indicate themselves in their deputies . . . . but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors . . . but always most in the common people.
document location text
yal.00138 #seg27 a lLiterature for a mighty race breed of men male and women female, represented no longer in their legislatures and executives, but represented better by ^ their successions of poets, orators, debaters, readers, musicians, philosophers, equals and mixers with the rest, springing from all trades and employments, ^ and effusing them and from sailors and landsmen, and from the city and the country, treading under their feet Literature making ^ of the vaunted of the past but a support to their feet and so treading them it under their feet.—
Their manners speech dress friendships—the freshness and candor of their physiognomy—
the picturesque looseness of their carriage . . . their deathless attachment to freedom—their aversion to anything indecorous or soft or mean—the practical acknowledgment of the citizens of one state by the citizens of all other states—the fierceness of their roused resentment—
their curiosity and welcome of novelty—their self-esteem and wonderful sympathy—their susceptibility to a slight—
the air they have of persons who never knew how it felt to stand in the presence of superiors—
document location text
loc.00141 #tw05 I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to ^ think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before ^ me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
med.00782 #ab01 I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors
the fluency of their speech—their delight in music, the sure symptom of manly tenderness and native elegance of soul . . . their good temper and openhandedness—
the terrible significance of their elections—the President's taking off his hat to them not they to him—these too are unrhymed poetry.
document location text
med.00782 #ab01 I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors
It awaits the gigantic and generous treatment worthy of it.

The largeness of nature or the nation were monstrous without a corresponding largeness and generosity of the spirit of the citizen.
Not nature nor swarming states nor streets and steamships nor prosperous business nor farms nor capital nor learning may suffice for the ideal of man . . . nor suffice the poet.
No reminiscences may suffice either.
A live nation can always cut a deep mark and can have the best authority the cheapest . . . namely from its own soul.
This is the sum of the profitable uses of individuals or states and of present action and grandeur and of the subjects of poets.—
As if it were necessary to trot back generation after generation to the eastern records!
As if the beauty and sacredness of the demonstrable must fall behind that of the mythical!
As if men do not make their mark out of any times!
As if the opening of the western continent by discovery and what has transpired since in North and South America were less than the small theatre of the antique or the aimless sleepwalking of the middle ages!
The pride of the United States leaves the wealth and finesse of the cities and all returns of commerce and agriculture and all the magnitude of geography or

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



iv shows of exterior victory to enjoy the breed of fullsized men or one fullsized man unconquerable and simple.

The American poets are to enclose old and new for America is the race of races.
Of them a bard is to be commensurate with a people.
To him the other continents arrive as contributions . . . he gives them reception for their sake and his own sake.
His spirit responds to his country's spirit . . . .
document location text
duk.00128 #p01 It is not that he gives his country great poems; it is that he gives his country the spirit which makes the greatest poems [illegible] and the greatest material for poems.—
he incarnates its geography and natural life and rivers and lakes.
Mississippi with annual freshets and changing chutes, Missouri and Columbia and Ohio and Saint Lawrence with the falls and beautiful masculine Hudson, do not embouchure where they spend themselves more than they embouchure into him.
The blue breadth over the inland sea of Virginia and Maryland and the sea off Massachusetts and Maine and over Manhattan bay and over Champlain and Erie and over Ontario and Huron and Michigan and Superior, and over the Texan and Mexican and Floridian and Cuban seas and over the seas off California and Oregon, is not tallied by the blue breadth of the waters below more than the breadth of above and below is tallied by him.
When the long Atlantic coast stretches longer and the Pacific coast stretches longer he easily stretches with them north or south.
He spans between them also from east to west and reflects what is between them.
On him rise solid growths that offset the growths of pine and cedar and hemlock and liveoak and locust and chestnut and cypress and hickory and limetree and cottonwood and tuliptree and cactus and wildvine and tamarind and persimmon . . . .
document location text
loc.00141 #p03 —he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.05589 #ab16 he does not lose by comparison with the orange tree or magnolia or with the fields that nourish the sugarplant or the cottonplant . . . . all that what strengthens or clothes adorns or is luscious can be had ^ through subtle counterparts from him—from him the[illegible] magnolias and oranges and sugarplant and cottonplant and all fruits and flowers and all the sorts and productions of the earth.—
uva.00601 #p01 [cut away] cottonwood—mulberry— chickadee—large brown water-dog— —black-snake—garter snake— —vinegar-plums—persimmon— —wh white-blossominged dog-wood— —sweet potato—plum-trees—plumborchard —cedar—chestnut—
#item02 locust, birch with white and ringed birch cypress—buttonwood—
and tangles as tangled as any canebrake or swamp . . . .
and forests coated with transparent ice and icicles hanging from the boughs and crackling in the wind . . . . and sides and peaks of mountains . . . .
and pasturage sweet and free as savannah or upland or prairie . . . .
with flights and songs and screams that answer those of the wildpigeon and highhold and orchard-oriole and coot and surf-duck and redshouldered-hawk and fish-hawk and white-ibis and indian-hen and cat-owl and water-pheasant and qua-bird and pied-sheldrake and blackbird and mockingbird and buzzard and condor and night-heron and eagle.
To him the hereditary countenance descends both mother's and father's.
To him enter the essences of the real things and past and present events—
of the enormous diversity of temperature and agriculture and mines—
the tribes of red aborigines—
the weatherbeaten vessels entering new ports or making landings on rocky coasts—the first settlements north or south—the rapid stature and muscle—
the haughty defiance of '76, and the war and peace and formation of the constitution . . . .
the union always surrounded by blatherers and always calm and impregnable—
document location text
loc.05589 #ab17 blatherers
the perpetual coming of immigrants—
the wharf hem'd cities
View side-by-side images (new window)
and Note: State B (Myerson second state). The majority of the surviving copies have the corrected version of the word "and," suggesting that Whitman or a printer probably caught and corrected this error fairly early in the print run. Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) AAS_01 AC_01 AC_02 BC_01 BGSU_01 BL_01 BPL_01 BPL_02 BSU_01 BU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 CAI_01 CC_01 CMU_01 CPL_01 CU_01 CWRU_01 CoU_02 CoU_03 DC_01 DU_02 DU_04 EU_01 GeC_01 HC_01 HL_02 HL_03 HSP_01 HU_01 HU_02 HU_03 HU_04 HU_05 JHU_01 KB_01 KSU_01 LCP_01 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 LMU_01 LU_01 LU_02 MC_01 MC_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NIU_02 NLS_01 NL_01 NSUG_01 NU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 NYPL_09 NYPL_10 NYPL_11 NYPL_12 OSU_01 OWU_01 OWU_02 PAA_01 PA_01 PC_02 PC_03 PC_04 PC_05 PC_07 PC_08 PC_09 PC_10 PC_11 PC_12 PC_13 PC_15 PC_16 PC_17 PC_18 PC_19 PML_01 PML_02 PML_03 PML_04 PSU_01 PU_01 PU_03 SUNYBi_01 SUNYBu_01 SU_01 TCU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCB_02 UCLA_01 UCLA_02 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_01 UD_02 UH_01 UI_01 UKy_01 UM_01 UMi_01 UMn_01 UNCCH_01 UNCC_01 UNL_01 UP_01 UP_02 UP_03 URI_01 UR_01 USC_01 USC_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UWM_01 UnC_01 VAM_01 WC_01 WC_02 WC_03 WC_04 WC_05 WFU_01 WFU_02 WUSL_01 WU_01 WWH_01 WWH_02 WeC_01 YU_02 YU_04 YU_05 YU_06
adn Note: State A (Myerson first state). The majority of copies with the uncorrected "adn" are in first-state bindings, but there are a few second-state bindings with the pre-corrected version. Based on this, Ed Folsom has suggested that first and second-state signatures were not kept consistently separate between printing and binding ("The Census of the 1855 Leaves of Grass: A Preliminary Report," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, 24 [Fall 2006], 71–84). Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) CoU_01 DU_01 DrU_01 GC_01 HU_06 LU_03 NYPL_02 NYPL_08 PC_14 PU_02 RC_01 TAMU_01 UNCCH_02 UVa_02 UVa_10 YU_01 YU_03
superior marine—
the unsurveyed interior—the loghouses and clearings and wild animals and hunters and trappers . . . .
the free commerce—the fisheries and whaling and gold-digging—
the endless gestation of new states—
the convening of Congress every December, the members duly coming up from all climates and the uttermost parts . . . .
the noble character of the young mechanics and of all free American workmen and workwomen . . . .
the general ardor and friendliness and enterprise—
the perfect equality of the female with the male . . . .
document location text
loc.00389 #p01 The idea that the Woman of America is to become the perfect equal of the man.—
the large amativeness—
the fluid movement of the population—
the factories and mercantile life and laborsaving machinery—
the Yankee swap—the New York firemen and the target excursion—the southern plantation life—
the character of the northeast and of the northwest and southwest—
slavery and the tremulous spreading of hands to protect it,
and the stern opposition to it which shall never cease till it ceases or the speaking of tongues and the moving of lips cease.
For such the expression of the American poet is to be transcendant and new.
It is to be indirect and not direct or descriptive or epic.
Its quality goes through these to much more.
Let the age and wars of other nations be chanted and their eras and characters be illustrated and that finish the verse.
Not so the great psalm of the republic.
Here the theme is creative and has vista.
Here comes one among the wellbeloved stonecutters and plans with decision and science and sees the solid and beautiful forms of the future where there are now no solid forms.
document location text
loc.05589 #ab06 The architect that comes among the stonecutters and the heaps of cut stone

Of all nations the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless have the greatest and use them the greatest.
Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall.
Of all mankind the great poet is the equable man.
Not in him but off from him things are grotesque or eccentric or fail of their sanity.
Nothing out of its place is good and nothing in its place is bad.
He bestows on every object or quality its fit proportions neither more nor less.
He is the arbiter of the diverse and he is the key.
He is the equalizer of his age and land . . . .
he supplies what wants supplying and checks what wants checking.
If peace is the routine out of him speaks the spirit of peace, large, rich, thrifty, building vast and populous cities, encouraging agriculture and the arts and commerce—lighting the study of man, the soul, immortality—federal, state or municipal government,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



v marriage, health, freetrade, intertravel by land and sea . . . .
nothing too close, nothing too far off . . . the stars not too far off.
In war he is the most deadly force of the war.
Who recruits him recruits horse and foot . . . he fetches parks of artillery the best that engineer ever knew.
document location text
loc.00025 #ab06 Give ^ me the commander who carries a thousand regiments in his breast ^ both horses foot; and ^ in his head whole packs of artillery, the swiftest and best disciplined in the world
If the time becomes slothful and heavy he knows how to arouse it . . . he can make every word he speaks draw blood.
Whatever stagnates in the flat of custom or obedience or legislation he never stagnates.
Obedience does not master him, he masters it.
High up out of reach he stands turning a concentrated light . . . he turns the pivot with his finger . . . he baffles the swiftest runners as he stands and easily overtakes and envelops them.
The time straying toward infidelity and confections and persiflage he withholds by his steady faith . . .
he spreads out his dishes . . .
he offers the sweet firmfibred meat that grows men and women.
His brain is the ultimate brain.
He is no arguer . . . he is judgment.
He judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.
As he sees the farthest he has the most faith.
His thoughts are the hymns of the praise of things.
document location text
loc.00005 #head01 Poem "Praise of things"
In the talk on the soul and eternity and God off of his equal plane he is silent.
He sees eternity less like a play with a prologue and denouement . . . .
he sees eternity in men and women . . . he does not see men and women as dreams or dots.
Faith is the antiseptic of the soul . . . it pervades the common people and preserves them . . . they never give up believing and expecting and trusting.
There is that indescribable freshness and unconsciousness about an illiterate person that humbles and mocks the power of the noblest expressive genius.
The poet sees for a certainty how one not a great artist may be just as sacred and perfect as the greatest artist. . . . . .
The power to destroy or remould is freely used by him but never the power of attack.
What is past is past.
If he does not expose superior models and prove himself by every step he takes he is not what is wanted.
The presence of the greatest poet conquers . . . not parleying or struggling or any prepared attempts.
Now he has passed that way see after him!
there is not left any vestige of despair or misanthropy or cunning or exclusiveness or the ignominy of a nativity or color or delusion of hell or the necessity of hell . . . . .
and no man thenceforward shall be degraded for ignorance or weakness or sin.

The greatest poet hardly knows pettiness or triviality.
If he breathes into any thing that was before thought small it dilates with the grandeur and life of the universe.
He is a seer . . . . he is individual . . . he is complete in himself . . . . the others are as good as he, only he sees it and they do not.
He is not one of the chorus . . . . he does not stop for any regulation . . . he is the president of regulation.
What the eyesight does to the rest he does to the rest. Who knows the curious mystery of the eyesight? The other senses corroborate themselves, but this is removed from any proof but its own and foreruns the identities of the spiritual world. A single glance of it mocks all the investigations of man and all the instruments and books of the earth and all reasoning. What is marvellous? what is unlikely? what is impossible or baseless or vague? after you have once just opened the space of a peachpit and given audience to far and near and to the sunset and had all things enter with electric swiftness softly and duly without confusion or jostling or jam.
document location text
loc.00346 #q12 We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any ^ all or ^ the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—^ By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
#ab21 * of the whole world to come to me.—with silence and with swiftness.—In an instant I ma Then make I fluid and draw to myself, however dense ^ keeping each to its distinct isolation, and no hubbub or jam or confusion, or jam, the whole of physical nature, though rocks are dense and hills are ponderous, and the stars are far away off sextillions of miles.—All the years of all the beings that have ever life lived on the earth,
prc.00127 #l19 We do not doubt ^ sight.—

The land and sea, the animals fishes and birds, the sky of heaven and the orbs, the forests mountains and rivers, are not small themes . . . but folks expect of the poet to indicate more than the beauty and dignity which always attach to dumb real objects . . . . they expect him to indicate the path between reality and their souls.
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg05 All expr that makes clear this relation, and tracks defines the road between between any thing conceivable objects and the human spirit, ^ and explains what those objects mean, is poetry, coarse or fine.
Men and women perceive the beauty well enough . . probably as well as he.
The passionate tenacity of hunters, woodmen, early risers, cultivators of gardens and orchards and fields, the love of healthy women for the manly form, seafaring persons, drivers of horses, the passion for light and the open air, all is an old varied sign of the unfailing perception of beauty and of a residence of the poetic in outdoor people.
document location text
duk.00263 #ab01 [I see you and stand before you driver of horses,]
duk.00297 #seg01 Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberersrafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.
loc.05589 #l11 If you have sons habit custom them to be drivers of horses
#l12 I knew six brothers drivers of horses
They can never be assisted by poets to perceive . . . some may but they never can.
The poetic quality is not marshalled in rhyme or uniformity or abstract addresses to things nor in melancholy complaints or good precepts, but is the life of these and much else and is in the soul.
document location text
med.00737 #p01 One obligation of great fresh bards remains . . . the clink of words is empty and offensive . . . the poetic quality blooms simple and earnest as the laws of the world.
The profit of rhyme is that it drops seeds of a sweeter and more luxuriant rhyme, and of uniformity that it conveys itself into its own roots in the ground out of sight.
The rhyme and uniformity of perfect poems show the free growth of metrical laws and bud from them as unerringly and loosely as lilacs or roses on a bush, and take shapes as compact as the shapes of chestnuts and oranges and melons and pears, and shed the perfume impalpable to form.
The fluency and ornaments of the finest poems or music or orations or recitations are not independent but dependent.
All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.
If the greatnesses are in conjunction in a man or woman it is enough . . . . the fact will prevail through the universe . . . . but the gaggery and gilt of a million years will not prevail.
Who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost.
This is what you

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



vi shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches,
give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,
document location text
med.00782 #ab01 I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,
read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
re examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,
document location text
yal.00138 #seg06 Absorb no more longer, mon ami, from the schools text-books.—
#seg07 or t Go no more not, for some years, to the labors of the recitation room, or the desk or on the accepted track of the tourists.—
dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body. . . . . . . .
The poet shall not spend his time in unneeded work.
He shall know that the ground is always ready ploughed and manured . . . . others may not know it but he shall.
He shall go directly to the creation.
His trust shall master the trust of everything he touches . . . . and shall master all attachment.

The known universe has one complete lover and that is the greatest poet.
He consumes an eternal passion and is indifferent which chance happens and which possible contingency of fortune or misfortune and persuades daily and hourly his delicious pay.
What balks or breaks others is fuel for his burning progress to contact and amorous joy.
Other proportions of the reception of pleasure dwindle to nothing to his proportions.
All expected from heaven or from the highest he is rapport with in the sight of the daybreak or a scene of the winter woods or the presence of children playing or with his arm round the neck of a man or woman.
His love above all love has leisure and expanse . . . . he leaves room ahead of himself.
He is no irresolute or suspicious lover . . . he is sure . . . he scorns intervals.
His experience and the showers and thrills are not for nothing.
Nothing can jar him . . . . suffering and darkness cannot—death and fear cannot.
To him complaint and jealousy and envy are corpses buried and rotten in the earth . . . . he saw them buried.
The sea is not surer of the shore or the shore of the sea than he is of the fruition of his love and of all perfection and beauty.

The fruition of beauty is no chance of hit or miss . . . it is inevitable as life . . . . it is exact and plumb as gravitation.
From the eyesight proceeds another eyesight and from the hearing proceeds another hearing and from the voice proceeds another voice eternally curious of the harmony of things with man.
To these respond perfections not only in the committees that were supposed to stand for the rest but in the rest themselves just the same.
These understand the law of perfection in masses and floods . . . that its finish is to each for itself and onward from itself . . . that it is profuse and impartial . . . that there is not a minute of the light or dark nor an acre of the earth or sea without it—nor any direction of the sky nor any trade or employment nor any turn of events.
document location text
loc.01019 #seg05 Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,
tex.00057 #l01 And to me each minute of the night and day is chock with something as vital and visible vital live as flesh is
#l06 And on to me each acre of the earth land and sea, I behold exhibits to me perpetual ^ unending marvellous pictures;
#l08 And to me each every minute of the night and day is filled with a [live?] joy
This is the reason that about the proper expression of beauty there is precision and balance . . . one part does not need to be thrust above another.
The best singer is not the one who has the most lithe and powerful organ . . . the pleasure of poems is not in them that take the handsomest measure and similes and sound.

Without effort and without exposing in the least how it is done the greatest poet brings the spirit of any or all events and passions and scenes and persons some more and some less to bear on your individual character as you hear or read.
document location text
med.00729 #q03 But to bring the Spirit of all events and persons and passions to the formation of the one individual that hears or reads . . . of you up there now.
To do this well is to compete with the laws that pursue and follow time.
What is the purpose must surely be there and the clue of it must be there . . . . and the faintest indication is the indication of the best and then becomes the clearest indication.
Past and present and future are not disjoined but joined.
document location text
duk.00060 #l01 We call it one the past, and we call another the future
#l02 But both are alike the present
#l03 It is not the past, though we call it so,—nor
#l04 IAnd it is not the future, though we call it so,
#l05 It is [Ready?] to [at?], All the while it is the present only—that both pa future and past are the present only.—
The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what has been and is.
He drags the dead out of their coffins and stands them again on their feet . . . . he says to the past, Rise and walk before me that I may realize you.
He learns the lesson . . . . he places himself where the future becomes present.
The greatest poet does not only dazzle his rays over character and scenes and passions . . . he finally ascends and finishes all . . .
document location text
loc.00163 #p01 There are many great painters—they paint scenes from the books, and illustrate from what the romancer and rhymster has prepared before them.—This artist does not illustrate or paint any such scenes or groups or characters.—He delineates for from himself.—Do you not like this magnificent disdain? of
med.00729 #q01 Not to dazzle with profuse descriptions of character and events and passions. The greatest poet is not content with dazzling his rays over character and events and passions and scenery and does not descend to moralize or make applications of morals.
he exhibits the pinnacles that no man can tell what they are for or what is beyond . . . . he glows a moment on the extremest verge.
He is most wonderful in his last half-hidden smile or frown . . . by that flash of the moment of parting the one that sees it shall be encouraged or terrified afterward for many years.
The greatest poet does not moralize or make applications of morals . . . he knows the soul.
document location text
med.00729 #q01 Not to dazzle with profuse descriptions of character and events and passions. The greatest poet is not content with dazzling his rays over character and events and passions and scenery and does not descend to moralize or make applications of morals.
The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessons but its own.
document location text
med.00729 #q02 The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessions but its own . . . this invariably.
But it has sympathy as measureless as its pride and the one balances the other and neither can stretch too far while it stretches in company with the other.
The inmost secrets of art sleep with the twain.
The greatest poet has lain close betwixt both and they are vital in his style and thoughts.

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity.
Nothing is better than simplicity . . . . nothing
View side-by-side images (new window)
ca Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_01 UI_01 UTA_01 UTA_02 UVa_03
can Image: Rare Book Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 DU_01 DU_02 DU_04 PC_03 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNL_01 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UVa_10
make up for excess or for the lack of
View side-by-side images (new window)
definiteness Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_01 UI_01 UTA_01 UTA_02 UVa_03
definiteness. Image: Rare Book Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 DU_01 DU_02 DU_04 PC_03 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNL_01 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UVa_10


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



vii
To carry on the heave of impulse and pierce intellectual depths and give all subjects their articulations are powers neither common nor very uncommon.
But to speak in literature with the perfect rectitude and insousiance of the movements of animals and the unimpeachableness of the sentiment of trees in the woods and grass by the roadside is the flawless triumph of art.
document location text
loc.05589 #ab18 Insouciance een soo se áwnz
#ab20 and the unimpeachableness of the sentiment of trees
If you have looked on him who has achieved it you have looked on one of the masters of the artists of all nations and times.
You shall not contemplate the flight of the graygull over the bay or the mettlesome action of the blood horse or the tall leaning of sunflowers on their stalk or the appearance of the sun journeying through heaven or the appearance of the moon afterward with any more satisfaction than you shall contemplate him.
document location text
loc.05589 #ab19 or the mettlesome action of the blood horse
The greatest poet has less a marked style and is more the channel of thoughts and things without increase or diminution, and is the free channel of himself.
He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I will not have in my writing any elegance or effect or originality to hang in the way between me and the rest like curtains.
I will have nothing hang in the way, not the richest curtains.
What I tell I tell for precisely what it is.
Let who may exalt or startle or fascinate or sooth I will have purposes as health or heat or snow has and be as regardless of observation.
What I experience or portray shall go from my composition without a shred of my composition.
You shall stand by my side and look in the mirror with me.

The old red blood and stainless gentility of great poets will be proved by their unconstraint.
A heroic person walks at his ease through and out of that custom or precedent or authority that suits him not.
document location text
duk.00888 #seg01 The mere authority of law, custom, or precedent, must be nothing, absolutely nothing at all, with him.—
Of the traits of the brotherhood of writers savans musicians inventors and artists nothing is finer than silent defiance advancing from new free forms.
document location text
yal.00138 #seg27 a lLiterature for a mighty race breed of men male and women female, represented no longer in their legislatures and executives, but represented better by ^ their successions of poets, orators, debaters, readers, musicians, philosophers, equals and mixers with the rest, springing from all trades and employments, ^ and effusing them and from sailors and landsmen, and from the city and the country, treading under their feet Literature making ^ of the vaunted of the past but a support to their feet and so treading them it under their feet.—
#seg28 poets, musicians, philosophers, with whom the rest of the world shall not deny, because their greatness shall repr shall incorporate accept the rest of the world ^ as much as any, also ^ and incorporate it and send back all that it has sent to them and interest ^ with interest more a thousand fold.—
In the need of poems philosophy politics mechanism science behaviour, the craft of art, an appropriate native grand-opera, shipcraft, or any craft, he is greatest forever and forever who contributes the greatest original practical example.
document location text
duk.00128 #p03 He does not give you the usual poems and metaphysics.—He gives you the materials for you to form for yourself the poems, and metaphysics, ^ politics, behaviour, and histories and romances, and essays and every thing else.— [that?] literature ^ can embody
loc.05589 #ab41 Always A truly the any great and original persons, teacher, inventor, poet or artist or poet, must himself make the taste and by which ^ only he will be appreciated or even received.
The cleanest expression is that which finds no sphere worthy of itself and makes one.

The messages of great poets to each man and woman are, Come to us on equal terms, Only then can you understand us, We are no better than you, What we enclose you enclose, What we enjoy you may enjoy.
document location text
loc.00163 #q13 I [am?] remain with my fellows,—with mechanics, and farmers and common people;
#q14 I remain with them all on equal terms
loc.00387 #seg03 I assume this day, the whole debt of all
tex.00031 #l28 I remain with common people on equal average terms.—
Did you suppose there could be only one Supreme?
document location text
med.00746 #q01 Why has it been taught that there is only one Supreme?—
We affirm there can be unnumbered Supremes, and that one does not countervail another any more than one eyesight countervails another . . and that men can be good or grand only of the consciousness of their supremacy within them.
document location text
med.00746 #q02 I say there are and must be myriads of Supremes. I say that that is blasphemous petty and infidel which denies any immortal soul to be eligible to advance onward to be as supreme as any—I say that all goes on to be eligible to become one of the Supremes—
What do you think is the grandeur of storms and dismemberments and the deadliest battles and wrecks and the wildest fury of the elements and the power of the sea and the motion of nature and of the throes of human desires and dignity and hate and love?
document location text
uva.00287 #l01 Man, before the rage of whose passions the storms of Heaven are but a breath;
#l03 Man, microcosm of all Creation's wildness, terror, beauty and power,
It is that something in the soul which says, Rage on, Whirl on, I tread master here and everywhere, Master of the spasms of the sky and of the shatter of the sea, Master of nature and passion and death, And of all terror and all pain.

The American bards shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors . .
They shall be kosmos . . without monopoly or secresy  . . glad to pass any thing to any one . . hungry for equals night and day.
They shall not be careful of riches and privilege . . . . they shall be riches and privilege . . . . they shall perceive who the most affluent man is.
The most affluent man is he that confronts all the shows he sees by equivalents out of the stronger wealth of himself.
document location text
loc.05589 #ab60 The wealthiesty affluent man is he who answers all the ^ confronts wealth whatever the grandest show sees [illegible] by its an equivalent or more than equivalent [in?] from the depths bottomless grander riches wealth of himself.—
The American bard shall delineate no class of persons nor one or two out of the strata of interests nor love most nor truth most nor the soul most nor the body most . . . .
and not be for the eastern states more than the western or the northern states more than the southern.
document location text
nyp.00057 #p02 tr down Man! Woman! Youth! wherever you are, in the Northern, Southern, Eastern, or Western States—in Kanada—by the sea-coast, or far inland—the

Exact science and its practical movements are no checks on the greatest poet but always his encouragement and support.
The outset and remembrance are there . . there the arms that lifted him first and brace him best . . . . there he returns after all his goings and comings.
The sailor and traveler . .
the anatomist chemist astronomer geologist phrenologist spiritualist mathematician historian and lexicographer are not poets, but they are the lawgivers of poets and their construction underlies the structure of every perfect poem.
No matter what rises or is uttered they sent the seed of the conception of it . . . of them and by them stand the visible proofs of souls . . . . . always of their fatherstuff must be begotten the sinewy races of bards.
If there shall be love and content between the father and the son and if the greatness of the son is the exuding of the greatness of the father there shall be love between the poet and the man of demonstrable science.
In the beauty of poems are the tuft and final applause of science.

Great is the faith of the flush of knowledge and of the investigation of the depths of qualities and things.
Cleaving and circling here swells the soul of the poet yet it president of itself always.
The depths are fathomless and therefore calm.
The innocence and nakedness are resumed . . . they are neither modest nor immodest.
The whole theory of the special and supernatural and all that was twined with it or educed out of it departs as a dream.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



viii
What has ever happened . . . . what happens and whatever may or shall happen, the vital laws enclose all . . . . they are sufficient for any case and for all cases . . . none to be hurried or retarded . . . .
any miracle of affairs or persons inadmissible in the vast clear scheme where every motion and every spear of grass and the frames and spirits of men and women and all that concerns them are unspeakably perfect miracles all referring to all and each distinct and in its place.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw06 Different objects which decay, and by the chemistry of nature, their bodies are into spears of grass—
#tw08 Bring all the art and science of the world, and baffle and humble it with one spear of grass
#tw15 My life is a miracle and my body which lives is a miracle
med.00726 #seg01 For example, whisper privately in your ear . . . the studies . . . be a rich investment if they . . . to bring the hat instantly off the . . . all his learning and bend himself to feel and fully enjoy . . . superb wonder of a blade of grass growing up green and crispy from the ground.
It is also not consistent with the reality of the soul to admit that there is anything in the known universe more divine than men and women.

Men and women and the earth and all upon it are simply to be taken as they are, and the investigation of their past and present and future shall be unintermitted and shall be done with perfect candor.
Upon this basis philosophy speculates ever looking toward the poet, ever regarding the eternal tendencies of all toward happiness never inconsistent with what is clear to the senses and to the soul.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab04 We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—
For the eternal tendencies of all toward happiness make the only point of sane philosophy.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab04 We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—
Whatever comprehends less than that . . . whatever is less than the laws of light and of astronomical motion . . . or less than the laws that follow the thief the liar the glutton and the drunkard through this life and doubtless afterward . . . . . . or less than vast stretches of time or the slow formation of density or the patient upheaving of strata—is of no account.
Whatever would put God in a poem or system of philosophy as contending against some being or influence is also of no account.
Sanity and ensemble characterise the great master . . . spoilt in one principle all is spoilt.
The great master has nothing to do with miracles.
document location text
loc.00005 #ab01 Can he be religious and have nothing to do with churches or prayers?
He sees health for himself in being one of the mass . . . . he sees the hiatus in singular eminence.
To the perfect shape comes common ground.
To be under the general law is great for that is to correspond with it.
The master knows that he is unspeakably great and that all are unspeakably great . . . . that nothing for instance is greater than to conceive children and bring them up well . . . that to be is just as great as to perceive or tell.

In the make of the great masters the idea of political liberty is indispensible.
Liberty takes the adherence of heroes wherever men and women exist . . . . but never takes any adherence or welcome from the rest more than from poets.
They are the voice and exposition of liberty.
They out of ages are worthy the grand idea . . . . to them it is confided and they must sustain it.
Nothing has precedence of it and nothing can warp or degrade it.
The attitude of great poets is to cheer up slaves and horrify despots.
The turn of their necks, the sound of their feet, the motions of their wrists, are full of hazard to the one and hope to the other.
Come nigh them awhile and though they neither speak or advise you shall learn the faithful American lesson.
Liberty is poorly served by men whose good intent is quelled from one failure or two failures or any number of failures,
or from the casual indifference or ingratitude of the people,
or from the sharp show of the tushes of power, or the bringing to bear soldiers and cannon or any penal statutes.
Liberty relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.
The battle rages with many a loud alarm and frequent advance and retreat . . . .
the enemy triumphs . . . .
the prison, the handcuffs, the iron necklace and anklet, the scaffold, garrote and leadballs do their work . . . .
the cause is asleep . . . . the strong throats are choked with their own blood . . . .
the young men drop their eyelashes toward the ground when they pass each other . . . .
and is liberty gone out of that place? No never.
When liberty goes it is not the first to go nor the second or third to go . .
it waits for all the rest to go . . it is the last . . .
When the memories of the old martyrs are faded utterly away . . . .
when the large names of patriots are laughed at in the public halls from the lips of the orators . . . .
when the boys are no more christened after the same but christened after tyrants and traitors instead . . . .
when the laws of the free are grudgingly permitted and laws for informers and bloodmoney are sweet to the taste of the people . . . .
when I and you walk abroad upon the earth stung with compassion at the sight of numberless brothers answering our equal friendship and calling no man master—and when we are elated with noble joy at the sight of slaves . . . .
when the soul retires in the cool communion of the night and surveys its experience and has much extasy over the word and deed that put back a helpless innocent person into the gripe of the gripers or into any cruel inferiority . . . .
when those in all parts of these states who could easier realize the true American character but do not yet—
document location text
loc.05589 #l31 Has his life shown the true American character?
#l32 And does it show the true American character?
when the swarms of cringers, suckers, doughfaces, lice of politics, planners of sly involutions for their own preferment to city offices or state legislatures or the judiciary or congress or the presidency, obtain a response of love and natural deference from the people whether they get the offices or no . . . .
when it is better to be a bound booby and rogue in office at a high salary than the poorest free mechanic or farmer with his hat unmoved from his head and firm eyes and a candid and generous heart . . . .
and when servility by town or state or the federal government or any oppression on a large

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



ix scale or small scale can be tried on without its own punishment following duly after in exact proportion against the smallest chance of escape . . . .
or rather when all life and all the souls of men and women are discharged from any part of the earth—
then only shall the instinct of liberty be discharged from that part of the earth.

As the attributes of the poets of the kosmos concentre in the real body and soul and in the pleasure of things they possess the superiority of genuineness over all fiction and romance.
As they emit themselves facts are showered over with light . . . .
the daylight is lit with more volatile light . . . . also the deep between the setting and rising sun goes deeper many fold.
Each precise object or condition or combination or process exhibits a beauty . . . . the multiplication table its—old age its—the carpenter's trade its—the grand-opera its . . . .
the hugehulled cleanshaped New-York clipper at sea under steam or full sail gleams with unmatched beauty . . . .
the American circles and large harmonies of government gleam with theirs . . . .
and the commonest definite intentions and actions with theirs.
The poets of the kosmos advance through all interpositions and coverings and turmoils and stratagems to first principles.
They are of use . . . . they dissolve poverty from its need and riches from its conceit.
You large proprietor they say shall not realize or perceive more than any one else.
The owner of the library is not he who holds a legal title to it having bought and paid for it.
document location text
uva.00238 #l03 Those He They aredo not own the libraryies who have bought the buy the books and can sell them again,
Any one and every one is owner of the library who can read the same through all the varieties of tongues and subjects and styles, and in whom they enter with ease and take residence and force toward paternity and maternity, and make supple and powerful and rich and large. . . . . . . . .
document location text
uva.00238 #l02 It is The books are written in numberless tongues,always perfect, always and alive;
#l04 I am the owner of the libraryies, for I read ev read every page, and enjoy the meaning of the same
These American states strong and healthy and accomplished shall receive no pleasure from violations of natural models and must not permit them.
In paintings or mouldings or carvings in mineral or wood, or in the illustrations of books or newspapers, or in any comic or tragic prints, or in the patterns of woven stuffs or any thing to beautify rooms or furniture or costumes, or to put upon cornices or monuments or on the prows or sterns of ships, or to put anywhere before the human eye indoors or out, that which distorts honest shapes or which creates unearthly beings or places or contingencies is a nuisance and revolt.
Of the human form especially it is so great it must never be made ridiculous.
Of ornaments to a work nothing outre can be allowed . . but those ornaments can be allowed that conform to the perfect facts of the open air and that flow out of the nature of the work and come irrepressibly from it and are necessary to the completion of the work.
document location text
duk.00130 #p01 A perfectly transparent, plate-glassy style, artless, with no ornaments, or attempts at ornaments, for their own sake,—^ they only coming in where answering looking well when like the beauties of the person or character, by nature and intuition, ^ and never lugged in [in?] in by the colla to show off, which founders nullifies the best of them, no matter under when and where, or under of the most favorable cases.
duk.00302 #p01 It seems to me—to avoid all poetical similes—to be faithful to the perfect likelihoods of nature—healthy, exact simple, disdaining ornament.
Most works are most beautiful without ornament . . .
Exaggerations will be revenged in human physiology.
Clean and vigorous children are jetted and conceived only in those communities where the models of natural forms are public every day. . . . .
Great genius and the people of these states must never be demeaned to romances.
document location text
med.00741 #seg01 Why need genius and the people of These States be demeaned to romances?
As soon as histories are properly told there is no more need of romances.
document location text
med.00741 #seg02 Let facts and histories be properly told, there is no more need of romances.

The great poets are also to be known by the absence in them of tricks and by the justification of perfect personal candor.
Then folks echo a new cheap joy and a divine voice leaping from their brains: How beautiful is candor!
All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor.
Henceforth let no man of us lie, for we have seen that openness wins the inner and outer world and that there is no single exception, and that never since our earth gathered itself in a mass have deceit or subterfuge or prevarication attracted its smallest particle or the faintest tinge of a shade—
and that through the enveloping wealth and rank of a state or the whole republic of states a sneak or sly person shall be discovered and despised . . . .
and that the soul has never been once fooled and never can be fooled . . . .
and thrift without the loving nod of the soul is only a fœtid puff . . . .
and there never grew up in any of the continents of the globe nor upon any planet or satellite or star, nor upon the asteroids, nor in any part of ethereal space, nor in the midst of density, nor under the fluid wet of the sea, nor in that condition which precedes the birth of babes, nor at any time during the changes of life, nor in that condition that follows what we term death, nor in any stretch of abeyance or action afterward of vitality, nor in any process of formation or reformation anywhere, a being whose instinct hated the truth.
document location text
duk.00060 #seg02 The existences on the innumerable stars, with their varied degrees of perfection, climate, swiftness
#seg03 Whatever it is that follows death,
nyp.00129 #p10 * It is this which is the source of all Poetry; for there is ^ in all men an instinct of the truth. in all men There is a file We have a saw-toothed appetite ^ with which restlessly hankers for some satisfactory food out of this immense and varied earth, beyond men something more ^ satisfactory than

Extreme caution or prudence, the soundest organic health, large hope and comparison and fondness for women and children, large alimentiveness and destructiveness and causality, with a perfect sense of the oneness of nature and the propriety of the same spirit applied to human affairs . .
these are called up of the float of the brain of the world to be parts of the greatest poet from his birth out of his mother's womb and from her birth out of her mother's.
document location text
uva.00283 #l01 Who wills with his own brain, the good sweet of the float of the earth descends and surrounds him,
Caution seldom goes far enough.
It has been thought that the prudent citizen was the citizen who applied himself to solid gains and did well for himself and his family and completed a lawful life without debt or crime.
The greatest poet sees and admits these economies as he sees the economies of food and sleep, but has higher notions of prudence than to think he gives much when he gives

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



x a few slight attentions at the latch of the gate.
The premises of the prudence of life are not the hospitality of it or the ripeness and harvest of it.
Beyond the independence of a little sum laid aside for burial-money,
and of a few clapboards around and shingles overhead on a lot of American soil owned,
and the easy dollars that supply the year's plain clothing and meals,
the melancholy prudence of the abandonment of such a great being as a man is to the toss and pallor of years of moneymaking with all their scorching days and icy nights
and all their stifling deceits and underhanded dodgings, or infinitessimals of parlors, or shameless stuffing while others starve . .
document location text
duk.00800 #p02 It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which ^ that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated ^ and pious, classes, under the prefer certain ^ political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.— ^ These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse ^ shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.— [I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
loc.00141 #tr03 (3 every bite, I put between them, and if I my my belly is the victor, it that will not cannot then so ^ even then be foiled, but follows the crust innocent food down my throat my throat and is like ^ makes it ^ turns it to fire and lead within me?—What ^ angry [man?] snake that hisses whistles softly hisses at my ear, as saying, deny your greed and this night your soul shall O fool will you stuff your greed and starve your soul?
#ab01 (And what is ^ it but my [earl?] soul that hisses like an angry snake, O fFool! will you stuff your greed and starve me?
loc.00387 #seg01 Lofty sirs! you are very select and very [or?] [cut away] and will have reserved seats in the ninetieth heaven no doubt, [a?] and move among ^ recognize only the best dressed and most polite angels, well dressed, [illegible] and with real spirits and whose names are on silver door plates,—and folding sliding doors between gas at night in the parlors.—
loc.05589 #ab30 such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible] ^ was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws ^ [illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither ^ under his hand and ^ [lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics ^ presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
#ab50 Literature to these gentlemen is a parlor in which no person is to be welcomed unless he come attired in dress coat and observing the approved decorums with the fashionable
med.00903 #ab01 I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031 #l04 I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes ^ exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
#l12 With a marble broad stoop to my house residence , and a silver door plate, and a steady pew in church?
#l19 And Thus the Have you heard [illegible] the gurgle the of gluttons, ready to stuff them continually perfectly willing to stuff themselves;
#l20 While then laugh at good fun of the starvation of others, as if it was funny.—
and all the loss of the bloom and odor of the earth and of the flowers and atmosphere and of the sea and of the true taste of the women and men you pass or have to do with in youth or middle age,
and the issuing sickness and desperate revolt at the close of a life without elevation or naivete,
and the ghastly chatter of a death without serenity or majesty,
is the great fraud upon modern civilization and forethought, blotching the surface and system which civilization undeniably drafts, and moistening with tears the immense features it spreads and spreads with such velocity before the reached kisses of the soul . . .
Still the right explanation remains to be made about prudence.
The prudence of the mere wealth and respectability of the most esteemed life appears too faint for the eye to observe at all when little and large alike drop quietly aside at the thought of the prudence suitable for immortality.
What is wisdom that fills the thinness of a year or seventy or eighty years to wisdom spaced out by ages and coming back at a certain time with strong reinforcements and rich presents and the clear faces of wedding-guests as far as you can look in every direction running gaily toward you?
Only the soul is of itself . . . .
all else has reference to what ensues.
All that a person does or thinks is of consequence.
Not a move can a man or woman make that affects him or her in a day or a month or any part of the direct lifetime or the hour of death
but the same affects him or her onward afterward through the indirect lifetime.
The indirect is always as great and real as the direct.
The spirit receives from the body just as much as it gives to the body.
Not one name of word or deed . . not of venereal sores or discolorations . . not the privacy of the onanist . .
not of the putrid veins of gluttons or rumdrinkers . . . not peculation or cunning or betrayal or murder . . no serpentine poison of those that seduce women . . not the foolish yielding of women . . not prostitution . . not of any depravity of young men . . not of the attainment of gain by discreditable means . . not any nastiness of appetite . . not any harshness of officers to men or judges to prisoners or fathers to sons or sons to fathers or of husbands to wives or bosses to their boys . . not of greedy looks or malignant wishes . . . nor any of the wiles practised by people upon themselves . . .
ever is or ever can be stamped on the programme but it is duly realized and returned, and that returned in further performances . . . and they returned again.
Nor can the push of charity or personal force ever be any thing else than the profoundest reason, whether it bring arguments to hand or no.
No specification is necessary . . to add or subtract or divide is in vain.
Little or big, learned or unlearned, white or black, legal or illegal, sick or well, from the first inspiration down the windpipe to the last expiration out of it,
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned
#tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
all that a male or female does that is vigorous and benevolent and clean is so much sure profit to him or her
in the unshakable order of the universe and through the whole scope of it forever.
If the savage or felon is wise it is well . . . . if the greatest poet or savan is wise it is simply the same . . if the President or chief justice is wise it is the same . . . if the young mechanic or farmer is wise it is no more or less . . if the prostitute is wise it is no more nor less.
The interest will come round . . all will come round.
All the best actions of war and peace . . .
all help given to relatives and strangers and the poor and old and sorrowful and young children and widows and the sick, and to all shunned persons . .
all furtherance of fugitives and of the escape of slaves . .
all the self-denial that stood steady and aloof on wrecks and saw others take the seats of the boats . . .
all offering of substance or life for the good old cause, or for a friend's sake or opinion's sake . . .
all pains of enthusiasts scoffed at by their neighbors . .
all the vast sweet love and precious suffering of mothers . . .
all honest men baffled in strifes recorded or unrecorded . . . .
all the grandeur and good of the few ancient nations whose fragments of annals we inherit . .
and all the good of the hundreds of far mightier and more ancient nations unknown to us by name or date or location . . . .
all that was ever manfully begun, whether it succeeded or no . . . .
all that has at any time been well suggested out of the divine heart of man or by the divinity of his mouth or by the shaping of his great hands . .
and all that is well thought or done this day on any part of the surface of the globe . . or on any of the wandering stars or fixed stars by those there as we are here . .
document location text
duk.00060 #seg01 The curious realities now everywhere—on the surface of the earth,
or that is henceforth to be well thought or done by you whoever you are, or by any one—
these singly and wholly inured at their time and inure now and will inure always to the identities from which they sprung or shall spring . . .
Did you guess any of them lived only its mo-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



ximent ?
The world does not so exist . . no parts palpable or impalpable so exist . . .
no result exists now without being from its long antecedent result, and that from its antecedent,
and so backward without the farthest mentionable spot coming a bit nearer the beginning than any other spot. . . . .
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
document location text
prc.00127 #l09 ^ Only What fully satisfies the senses ^ of all all men is truth;
tex.00088 #seg05 Whatever thoroughly satisfies the soul is Truth.—
The prudence of the greatest poet answers at last the craving and glut of the soul,
document location text
tex.00088 #seg100 as a good part of the soul is its craving for that which we incompletely describe as by
is not contemptuous of less ways of prudence if they conform to its ways, puts off nothing, permits no let-up for its own case or any case, has no particular sabbath or judgment-day,
divides not the living from the dead or the righteous from the unrighteous,
is satisfied with the present,
matches every thought or act by its correlative,
knows no possible forgiveness or deputed atonement . .
knows that the young man who composedly periled his life and lost it has done exceeding well for himself,
while the man who has not periled his life and retains it to old age in riches and ease has perhaps achieved nothing for himself worth mentioning . .
and that only that person has no great prudence to learn who has learnt to prefer real longlived things,
and favors body and soul the same,
and perceives the indirect assuredly following the direct,
and what evil or good he does leaping onward and waiting to meet him again—
and who in his spirit in any emergency whatever neither hurries or avoids death.

The direct trial of him who would be the greatest poet is today.
If he does not flood himself with the immediate age as with vast oceanic tides . . . . .
document location text
uva.00269 #l04 I surround retrace things steps oceanic—I pass to around not merely my own kind, but all the objects I see.—
and if he does not attract his own land body and soul to himself and hang on its neck with incomparable love
and plunge his semitic muscle into its merits and demerits . . .
and if he be not himself the age transfigured . . . .
and if to him is not opened the eternity which gives similitude to all periods and locations and processes and animate and inanimate forms, and which is the bond of time, and rises up from its inconceivable vagueness and infiniteness in the swimming shape of today, and is held by the ductile anchors of life, and makes the present spot the passage from what was to what shall be, and commits itself to the representation of this wave of an hour and this one of the sixty beautiful children of the wave—
document location text
uva.00269 #l04 I surround retrace things steps oceanic—I pass to around not merely my own kind, but all the objects I see.—
let him merge in the general run and wait his developement . . . . . . . .
Still the final test of poems or any character or work remains.
document location text
loc.00141 #ab04 Test of a poem
The prescient poet projects himself centuries ahead and judges performer or performance after the changes of time.
Does it live through them?
Does it still hold on untired?
Will the same style and the direction of genius to similar points be satisfactory now?
Has no new discovery in science or arrival at superior planes of thought and judgment and behaviour fixed him or his so that either can be looked down upon?
Have the marches of tens and hundreds and thousands of years made willing detours to the right hand and the left hand for his sake?
Is he beloved long and long after he is buried?
Does the young man think often of him? and the young woman think often of him? and do the middleaged and the old think of him?
document location text
uva.00137 #l02 you young woman, thinking of man, and thinking of the bashful, longh longing, loving, thinking alone at night,

A great poem is for ages and ages in common and for all degrees and complexions and all departments and sects and for a woman as much as a man and a man as much as a woman.
A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning.
Has any one fancied he could sit at last under some due authority and rest satisfied with explanations and realize and be content and full?
To no such terminus does the greatest poet bring . . .
he brings neither cessation or sheltered fatness and ease.
The touch of him tells in action.
Whom he takes he takes with firm sure grasp into live regions previously unattained . . . . thenceforward is no rest . . . . they see the space and ineffable sheen that turn the old spots and lights into dead vacuums.
The companion of him beholds the birth and progress of stars and learns one of the meanings.
Now there shall be a man cohered out of tumult and chaos . . . .
the elder encourages the younger and shows him how . . .
document location text
loc.01019 #seg08 Of the being who embodies it in boundless finished perfection, and of whom there have been one or two examples in as many thousand years, as if to encourage the earth and show it how,—
they two shall launch off fearlessly together till the new world fits an orbit for itself and looks unabashed on the lesser orbits of the stars and sweeps through the ceaseless rings and shall never be quiet again.

There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done.
They may wait awhile . . perhaps a generation or two . . dropping off by degrees.
A superior breed shall take their place . . . .
the gangs of kosmos and prophets en masse shall take their place.
A new order shall arise and they shall be the priests of man, and every man shall be his own priest.
The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women.
document location text
loc.05589 #l100 If I build a church it shall be the a church of to men and women
Through the divinity of themselves shall the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and of all events and things.
They shall find their inspiration in real objects today, symptoms of the past and future . . . .
They shall not deign to defend immortality or God or the perfection of things or liberty or the exquisite beauty and reality of the soul.
They shall arise in America and be responded to from the remainder of the earth.

The English language befriends the grand American expression . . . . it is brawny enough and limber and full enough.
On the tough stock of a race who through all change of circumstance was never with-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



xiiout the idea of political liberty, which is the animus of all liberty, it has attracted the terms of daintier and gayer and subtler and more elegant tongues.
It is the powerful language of resistance . . .
it is the dialect of common sense.
It is the speech of the proud and melancholy races and of all who aspire.
It is the chosen tongue to express growth faith self-esteem freedom justice equality friendliness amplitude prudence decision and courage.
It is the medium that shall well nigh express the inexpressible.

No great literature nor any like style of behaviour or oratory or social intercourse or household arrangements or public institutions or the treatment by bosses of employed people, nor executive detail or detail of the army or navy, nor spirit of legislation or courts or police or tuition or architecture or songs or amusements or the costumes of young men, can long elude the jealous and passionate instinct of American standards.
document location text
loc.05180 #q01 The idea that no style of behaviour, or dress, or public institutions, or treatment by bosses of employed people, and nothing in the army or navy, nor in the courts, or police, or tuition, or amusements, can much longer permanently elude the jealous and passionate instinct of American standards.—
loc.05589 #ab21 haughty [&?] jealous and haughty instinct
Whether or no the sign appears from the mouths of the people, it throbs a live interrogation in every freeman's and freewoman's heart after that which passes by or this built to remain.
Is it uniform with my country? Are its disposals without ignominious distinctions? Is it for the evergrowing communes of brothers and lovers, large, well-united, proud beyond the old models, generous beyond all models?
document location text
loc.05589 #l31 Has his life shown the true American character?
#l32 And does it show the true American character?
#l33 Has he been easy and friendly with his workmen?—Has he been the stern master of slaves?
#l34 Has he been for making ignominious distinctions?—Has he respected the literary classes and looked on the ignorant classes with [contempt]
Is it something grown fresh out of the fields or drawn from the sea for use to me today here?
I know that what answers for me an American must answer for any individual or nation that serves for a part of my materials.
Does this answer? or is it without reference to universal needs?
or sprung of the needs of the less developed society of special ranks?
or old needs of pleasure overlaid by modern science and forms?
Does this acknowledge liberty with audible and absolute acknowledgement, and set slavery at nought for life and death?
Will it help breed one goodshaped and wellhung man, and a woman to be his perfect and independent mate?
Does it improve manners?
Is it for the nursing of the young of the republic?
Does it solve readily with the sweet milk of the nipples of the breasts of the mother of many children?
document location text
loc.00163 #ab01 Poem descriptive of a good wife (housekeeper, cook, mother of many children.)
Has it too the old ever-fresh forbearance and impartiality?
Does it look with the same love on the last born and on those hardening toward stature, and on the errant, and on those who disdain all strength of assault outside of their own?

The poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away.
document location text
yal.00138 #seg16 Books have generated too long upon themselves books, [illegible] and religions upon religions, and poems upon poems.—
The coward will surely pass away.
The expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great.
The swarms of the polished deprecating and reflectors and the polite float off and leave no remembrance.
document location text
duk.00303 #p01 What shall the great poet be then? Shall he be a timid apologetic person, deprecating himself, guarding off the effects he won
America prepares with composure and goodwill for the visitors that have sent word.
It is not intellect that is to be their warrant and welcome.
The talented, the artist, the ingenious, the editor, the statesman, the erudite . . they are not unappreciated . . they fall in their place and do their work.
The soul of the nation also does its work.
No disguise can pass on it . . no disguise can conceal from it.
It rejects none, it permits all.
Only toward as good as itself and toward the like of itself will it advance half-way.
An individual is as superb as a nation when he has the qualities which make a superb nation.
The soul of the largest and wealthiest and proudest nation may well go half-way to meet that of its poets.
The signs are effectual.
There is no fear of mistake.
If the one is true the other is true.
The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -




Leaves of Grass.



—————

0
I CELEBRATE myself,
document location text
duk.00787 #l01 [cut away] myself to celebrate [cut away]
#l03 I celebrate myself to celebrate you; every man and woman alive;
#l06 I celebrate myself to celebrate you:
1
And what I assume you shall assume,
document location text
loc.00387 #seg03 I assume this day, the whole debt of all
2
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
document location text
duk.00787 #l10 I transpose my my spirit
loc.01019 #seg05 Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,

3
I loafe and invite my soul,
document location text
loc.00387 #seg02 (As for me I am a born loafer.— democrat.—
4
I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw06 Different objects which decay, and by the chemistry of nature, their bodies are into spears of grass—
#tw08 Bring all the art and science of the world, and baffle and humble it with one spear of grass
#l92 Observing the shroud
#tw59 Observing the summer grass
med.00909 #l02 Outside the asteroids I reconnoitre at my ease.

5
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw63 Literature is full of perfumes
6
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
7
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

8
The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is
                   
odorless,
9
It is for my mouth forever . . . . I am in love with it,
10
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
11
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

12
The smoke of my own breath,
13
Echos, ripples, and buzzed whispers . . . . loveroot, silkthread, crotch and vine,
document location text
nyp.00122 #q01 Lovebranches Loveroot.
#i01 Loveroot Seedling Climber-blossom— -mine.—
#i02 Bloss Branched Le Verdure, blossom branch, fruit and vine
#q02 Loveroot,
#l01 Verdure, crotch, branch, crotch fruit bulb and vine
#l02 Silk
#q03 Bulb, silkthread, crotch and f
nyp.00734 #item06 Loveripples
14
My respiration and inspiration . . . . the beating of my heart . . . . the passing of blood
                   
and air through my lungs,
document location text
loc.05589 #l35 My respiration and inspiration. . . . the beating of my heart . . . .the passing of blood and air through my lungs.
15
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and darkcolored sea-
                   
rocks, and of hay in the barn,
16
The sound of the belched words of my voice . . . . words loosed to the eddies of
                   
the wind,
17
A few light kisses . . . . a few embraces . . . . a reaching around of arms,
18
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
19
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hillsides,
20
The feeling of health . . . . the full-noon trill . . . . the song of me rising from bed
                   
and meeting the sun.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



14 Leaves of Grass.

21
Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? Have you reckoned the earth much?
22
Have you practiced so long to learn to read?
23
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

24
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
25
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun . . . . there are millions of suns left,
document location text
uva.00250 #l06 Lo! I offer men no painted saucers—I make every one a present of the sun; himself;
#l07 I have plenty more—I have millions of suns left.
26
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand . . . . nor look through the
                   
eyes of the dead . . . . nor feed on the spectres in books,
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg06 Even if ^ the explanation be done at second and third hand, removes and two or three removes off, or as most are, or distantly suggested,
yal.00138 #seg06 Absorb no more longer, mon ami, from the schools text-books.—
27
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
28
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.

29
I have heard what the talkers were talking . . . . the talk of the beginning and the end,
30
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

31
There was never any more inception than there is now,
document location text
loc.05589 #l13 There was never any more inception than there is now
uva.00568 #l05 Nor any more inception than there is now,
32
Nor any more youth or age than there is now;
document location text
loc.05589 #l14 Nor any more youth or age
uva.00568 #l04 TNor any more youth nor age than there is now [cut away]
33
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
document location text
loc.05589 #l15 And will never be any more perfection
uva.00568 #l06 Nor any more perfection than there is now.
34
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
document location text
loc.05589 #l16 Nor any more heaven or hell
uva.00568 #l03 I think there will never be any more heaven or hell than there is now,

35
Urge and urge and urge,
36
Always the procreant urge of the world.

37
Out of the dimness opposite equals advance . . . . Always substance and increase,
38
Always a knit of identity . . . . always distinction . . . . always a breed of life.

39
To elaborate is no avail . . . . Learned and unlearned feel that it is so.

40
Sure as the most certain sure . . . . plumb in the uprights, well entretied, braced in
                   
the beams,
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg04 As sSure as the most certain sure—as reliable as Immortality—you the effects come when appear after the causes appear. are born.
41
Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
42
I and this mystery here we stand.
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg04 As sSure as the most certain sure—as reliable as Immortality—you the effects come when appear after the causes appear. are born.

43
Clear and sweet is my soul . . . . and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.

44
Lack one lacks both . . . . and the unseen is proved by the seen,
document location text
loc.00042 #l05 But that all the things seen or demonstrated are so;
#l06 Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141 #tw27 What we see is real; But that all I see ^ [the things seen?] [all?] is real
#l450 And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of ^ things equally real wh[illegible]th we ^ [illegible] do [illegible] not ^ yet seen
#l451 But which is I know to be equally real, I know.
45
Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.
document location text
loc.00042 #l06 Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141 #l450 And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of ^ things equally real wh[illegible]th we ^ [illegible] do [illegible] not ^ yet seen
#l451 But which is I know to be equally real, I know.

46
Showing the best and dividing it from the worst, age vexes age,
47
Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I am silent,
                   
and go bathe and admire myself.
document location text
duk.00293 #ab01 When a man joined to his great power, and wealth and strength, has the ^ knowledge of the perfect equanimity and

48
Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
49
Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.

50
I am satisfied . . . . I see, dance, laugh, sing;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
Leaves Note: In these copies the space between "es" in the running head "Leaves" is narrower. Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 DU_01 DU_02 DU_04 LC_01 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 PA_01 PC_03 UI_01 UNCCH_02 UNL_01 UTA_01 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UVa_10
Leaves Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) DU_03 LC_02 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 NYPL_01 UNCCH_01 UTA_02 UTA_05 UTA_06 UVa_04 UVa_06
of Grass.
15

51
As God comes a loving bedfellow and sleeps at my side all night and close on the
                   
peep of the day,
52
And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their
                   
plenty,
53
Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes,
54
That they turn from gazing after and down the road,
55
And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,
56
Exactly the contents of one, and exactly the contents of two, and which is ahead?

57
Trippers and askers surround me,
58
People I meet . . . . . the effect upon me of my early life . . . . of the
View side-by-side images (new window)
ward and city Note: Though it is possible this missing character was the product of the shifting type observable elsewhere in the edition, the barely visible ink spot in this and other copies would suggest it is more likely attributable to inconsistent inking or variable pressure at the edge of the page. Image: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University Open copies in bibliography (new window) BGSU_01 BPL_02 CPL_01 CoU_01 CoU_02 DU_01 DU_04 NYPL_03 NYPL_10 NYPL_12 OSU_01 UCLA_01 WC_05 YU_02

                   
live in . . . . of the nation,
59
The latest news . . . . discoveries, inventions, societies . . . . authors old and new,
60
My dinner, dress, associates, looks, business, compliments, dues,
61
The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,
62
The sickness of one of my folks—or of myself . . . . or ill-doing . . . . or loss or lack
                   
of money . . . . or depressions or exaltations,
63
They come to me days and nights and go from me again,
64
But they are not the Me myself.

65
Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
document location text
loc.05334 #p01 For remember that behind all this show of ostensible life, of every man and woman,—of you hearing me now [in?] these talks, amusements, dress, money, politics, &c. stands the real life of every man and woman of you who hear me now
66
Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,
67
Looks down, is erect, bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,
68
Looks with its sidecurved head curious what will come next,
69
Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it.

70
Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and
                   
contenders,
document location text
duk.00797 #seg01 I caneven see myself struggling sweating in the fog with the linguists and learned old men.—I look back upon that time in my own days.—
71
I have no mockings or arguments . . . . I witness and wait.
document location text
duk.00797 #seg02 I have no gibes nor mocks mockings or laughter;—I have only to be silent and patiently to wait.—
loc.05589 #l37 I have no mockings ? and laughter?
#l38 I have only to be silent ? and

72
I believe in you my soul . . . . the other I am must not abase itself to you,
73
And you must not be abased to the other.

74
Loafe with me on the grass . . . . loose the stop from your throat,
75
Not words, not music or rhyme I want . . . . not custom or lecture, not even the best,
76
Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.
document location text
uva.00264 #l01 And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!

77
I mind how we lay in June, such a transparent summer morning;
78
You settled your head athwart my hips and gently turned over upon me,
79
And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue to my barestript
                   
heart,
80
And reached till you felt my beard, and reached till you held my feet.

81
Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and joy and knowledge that pass all
                   
the art and argument of the earth;
82
And I know that the hand of God is the elderhand of my own,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



16 Leaves of Grass,

83
And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own,
document location text
duk.00298 #seg02 Contemptible enough indeed are they such they all, measurersing, compared with that vast But that stunning, swimming puzzle envelopings God the soul him itself and the Elder Brother of the soul and which had no beginning and can never cease
med.00911 #l01 The Elder Brother of the soul—my soul.
nyp.00085 #l02 The Soul addresses God as his equal—as one who knows its greatness—as a younger brother
84
And that all the men ever born are also my brothers . . . . and the women my sisters
                   
and lovers,
85
And that a kelson of the creation is love;
86
And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,
87
And brown ants in the little wells beneath them,
88
And mossy scabs of the wormfence, and heaped stones, and elder and mullen and
                   
pokeweed.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw40 And ^ a thousand pictures [illegible] great and small crowd the the [illegible] rail-fence, with and [illegible] hang on its loose heaped stones and some elder and poke-weed.
tex.00057 #l07 They fill the worm‑fence, and lie on the heaped stones, and are hooked to the elder and poke‑weed;

89
A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
90
How could I answer the child? . . . . I do not know what it is any more than he.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw204 And that what itthey seems to the child it is they are

91
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

92
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
93
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,
94
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark,
                   
and say Whose?

95
Or I guess the grass is itself a child . . . . the produced babe of the vegetation.

96
Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab30 such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible] ^ was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws ^ [illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither ^ under his hand and ^ [lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics ^ presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
97
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
98
Growing among black folks as among white,
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
99
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the
                   
same.
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.

100
And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
document location text
duk.00942 #l01 [cut away] grass is ^ And now it it the grass seems to me the dark, uncropped uncut hair of graves:

101
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
document location text
duk.00942 #l02 [T?]enderly will I touch use you, tressy grass,
102
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
document location text
duk.00942 #l03 It may be you effuse transpire from the breasts of young men—
103
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them;
document location text
duk.00942 #l04 It may be if I had known them I would have loved them.
104
It may be you are from old people and from women, and from offspring taken soon
                   
out of their mothers' laps,
document location text
duk.00942 #l05 You may be sprout from dead babes infants ^ young little ones taken soon out of their mothers' laps,
105
And here you are the mothers' laps.
document location text
duk.00942 #l06 And now you yourselves rest in are the mothers' laps.

106
This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
document location text
duk.00942 #l07 How can you be so dark?
#l08 Are you not from the white ^ white blanched white heads of the old mothers of old mothers?
107
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
document location text
duk.00942 #l09 Are you not from the colorless beards of old men?
108
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.
document location text
duk.00942 #l10 [A?]re [no?] you not from pale red tongues and under the faint red roofs of mouths?

109
O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues!
document location text
duk.00942 #l11 O, now I know what you mean!
110
And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
document location text
duk.00942 #l12 [Y?]ou do not come out of tongues and the roofs of mouths for not[hing?]

111
I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
document location text
duk.00942 #l13 [Yo?]u would tell whisper me what is done to the young men,
112
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their
                   
laps.
document location text
duk.00942 #l14 [And to the old men and the mothers?]
#l15 [And the [cut away] ^ [cut away] ?] taken soon out of their laps—



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 17

113
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
document location text
duk.00942 #l16 Yet I cannot say, any more than you, their spirits went far enough what has become of the young ^ and old men,
114
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
document location text
duk.00942 #l17 Nor what has become of the women and children

115
They are alive and well somewhere;
document location text
duk.00942 #l18 Only I am sure positive enough they are all alive and well somewhere.
116
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
document location text
duk.00007 #l01 It is no miracle now that wherever we be we are to live on always.
#l06 It It They shall tells for me that people In them, the smallest least of us the universe eternity has no time for Death, ^ each inch of existence is so good exquisite [illegible] ^ weighty needful
#l07 But And, that to pass existence is ^ [poetry?] sovereign supreme over all, and what we thought death is but life brought to a finer parturition.—
duk.00942 #l19 Because this grass tells me there is no such thing as death,
nyp.00052 #l01 If tTo pass existence be is so good, what room there is no chance can there be [for death?]
117
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
document location text
duk.00942 #l20 Or if ever there was, it stood at the beginning preceded all, primitive and does not wait at the end,
118
And ceased the moment life appeared.
document location text
duk.00942 #l21 And ceased the moment the first live thing began.

119
All goes onward and outward . . . . and nothing collapses,
document location text
duk.00942 #l22 And that nothing recedes, ^ collapses, but all goes onward and outward
120
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
document location text
duk.00007 #l07 But And, that to pass existence is ^ [poetry?] sovereign supreme over all, and what we thought death is but life brought to a finer parturition.—
duk.00942 #l23 And that to die is not what what you one supposeds.—
nyp.00113 #ab01 Describing the death of nine seven brothers and their parents——who can say that those who were ^ least least most lucky who died the earliest, or under the most appaling circumstances? Or that those were luckiest who made the most wealth, and lived the longest stretch of mortality?

121
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
document location text
duk.00942 #l24 Have you supposed it good to be born?
loc.00141 #l39 Do Have you supposed it beautiful to be born?
122
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
document location text
duk.00942 #l25 [Have?] I hasten to inform tell you it is just as good to die, [illegible] and I know it;
loc.00141 #l40 I tell you ^ I know it it is more just as beautiful to die;
nyp.00113 #ab01 Describing the death of nine seven brothers and their parents——who can say that those who were ^ least least most lucky who died the earliest, or under the most appaling circumstances? Or that those were luckiest who made the most wealth, and lived the longest stretch of mortality?

123
I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe . . . . and am not
                   
contained between my hat and boots,
document location text
duk.00942 #l26 [I know it?] For I take my death with the dying,
#l31 [And my birth with the new-washed babe?]
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
#l41 For I take my death with the dying
#l42 And my birth with the new-born babes
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
124
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike, and every one good,
document location text
loc.00162 #l04 Between this beautiful but dumb Earth, with all all its manifold eloquent but inarticulate shows & objects
nyp.00063 #p01 Superb and infinitely manifold [t?] as natural the objects are,—not a so cubic solid each foot ^ out of the numberless countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space but has its positive [lo?] ho is being crammed full of positive absolute or direct relative wonders,—not any one of these, nor the whole of them together, disturbs or seems awry to the mind of man or woman.—
125
The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.
126
I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
127
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as
                   
myself;
document location text
loc.00163 #q01 I will not be a leader of men, I will always be their mate and companion!
128
They do not know how immortal, but I know.

129
Every kind for itself and its own . . . . for me mine male and female,
130
For me all that have been boys and that love women,
131
For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
132
For me the sweetheart and the old maid . . . . for me mothers and the mothers of
                   
mothers,
133
For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
134
For me children and the begetters of children.

135
Who need be afraid of the merge?
136
Undrape . . . . you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
137
I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,
138
And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless . . . . and can never be shaken away.

139
The little one sleeps in its cradle,
140
I lift the gauze and look a long time, and silently brush away flies with my hand.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw201 And have sent my soul And went down to to take board reconnoitre there a long time,
#tw212 And my soul staid there flew thither to [st?] reconnoitre and squat, and looked long upon the universe out,

141
The youngster and the redfaced girl turn aside up the bushy hill,
142
I peeringly view them from the top.

143
The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom,
document location text
uva.00601 #l01 The suicide that hanged himsel went to a lonesome place with a pistol and killed himself, and I came that way and stumbled upon him
144
It is so . . . . I witnessed the corpse . . . . there the pistol had fallen.
document location text
uva.00601 #l01 The suicide that hanged himsel went to a lonesome place with a pistol and killed himself, and I came that way and stumbled upon him



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



18 Leaves of Grass.

145
The blab of the pave . . . . the tires of carts and sluff of bootsoles and talk of the
                   
promenaders,
146
The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the clank of the shod
                   
horses on the granite floor,
147
The carnival of sleighs, the clinking and shouted jokes and pelts of snowballs;
148
The hurrahs for popular favorites . . . . the fury of roused mobs,
149
The flap of the curtained litter—the sick man inside, borne to the hospital,
150
The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall,
151
The excited crowd—the policeman with his star quickly working his passage to the
                   
centre of the crowd;
152
The impassive stones that receive and return so many echoes,
153
The souls moving along . . . . are they invisible while the least atom of the stones is
                   
visible?
154
What groans of overfed or half-starved who fall on the flags sunstruck or in fits,
155
What exclamations of women taken suddenly, who hurry home and give birth to
                   
babes,
156
What living and buried speech is always vibrating here . . . . what howls restrained
                   
by decorum,
157
Arrests of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances, rejections with
                   
convex lips,
158
I mind them or the resonance of them . . . . I come again and again.

159
The big doors of the country-barn stand open and ready
160
The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,
161
The clear light plays on the brown gray and green intertinged,
162
The armfuls are packed to the sagging mow:
163
I am there . . . . I help . . . . I came stretched atop of the load,
164
I felt its soft jolts . . . . one leg reclined on the other,
165
I jump from the crossbeams, and seize the clover and timothy,
document location text
nyp.00549 #seg02 He owns the solid ground and tills it and reaps from every field and harvests fro the cotton and grain, dried grass. ^ the timothy and the clovers.—.—
166
And roll head over heels, and tangle my hair full of wisps.

167
Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt,
168
Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee,
169
In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night,
170
Kindling a fire and broiling the freshkilled game,
171
Soundly falling asleep on the gathered leaves, my dog and gun by my side.

172
The Yankee clipper is under her three skysails . . . . she cuts the sparkle and scud,
173
My eyes settle the land . . . . I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck.
document location text
loc.05589 #l08 O laugh when my eyes settle the land

174
The boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and stopped for me,
document location text
duk.00296 #seg01 ¶ How gladly we leave ^ the best of what is called learned and refined society, or the company of lawyers and book-factors and men withfrom stores and offices ^ from [even?] the best of what is called intellectual society to sail all day on the river withamid a party of pilots and fresh and jovial boatmen, with no coats or suspenders, and their trowsers tucked in their boots.
loc.00141 #tw20 I will not descend among professors and capitalists and good society—I will turn up the ends of my trowsers up around my boots, and my cuffs back from my wrists and go among with the rough drivers and boatmen and men who that catch fish or hoe corn, work in the field, I know that they are sublime
175
I tucked my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time,
document location text
duk.00296 #seg01 ¶ How gladly we leave ^ the best of what is called learned and refined society, or the company of lawyers and book-factors and men withfrom stores and offices ^ from [even?] the best of what is called intellectual society to sail all day on the river withamid a party of pilots and fresh and jovial boatmen, with no coats or suspenders, and their trowsers tucked in their boots.
loc.00141 #tw20 I will not descend among professors and capitalists and good society—I will turn up the ends of my trowsers up around my boots, and my cuffs back from my wrists and go among with the rough drivers and boatmen and men who that catch fish or hoe corn, work in the field, I know that they are sublime
176
You should have been with us that day round the chowder-kettle.

177
I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the far-west . . . . the bride was
                   
a red girl,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 19

178
Her father and his friends sat near by crosslegged and dumbly smoking . . . . they
                   
had moccasins to their feet and large thick blankets hanging from their
                   
shoulders;
179
On a bank lounged the trapper . . . . he was dressed mostly in skins . . . . his luxuriant
                   
beard and curls protected his neck,
180
One hand rested on his rifle . . . . the other hand held firmly the wrist of the red girl,
181
She had long eyelashes . . . . her head was bare . . . . her coarse straight locks
                   
descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reached to her feet.

182
The runaway slave came to my house and stopped outside,
183
I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,
184
Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsey and weak,
185
And went where he sat on a log, and led him in and assured him,
186
And brought water and filled a tub for his sweated body and bruised feet,
187
And gave him a room that entered from my own, and gave him some coarse clean
                   
clothes,
188
And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness,
189
And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;
190
He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and passed north,
191
I had him sit next me at table . . . . my firelock leaned in the corner.

192
Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,
193
Twenty-eight young men, and all so friendly,
194
Twenty-eight years of womanly life, and all so lonesome.

195
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank,
196
She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window.

197
Which of the young men does she like the best?
198
Ah the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.

199
Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,
200
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.

201
Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather,
202
The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.

203
The beards of the young men glistened with wet, it ran from their long hair,
204
Little streams passed all over their bodies.

205
An unseen hand also passed over their bodies,
206
It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.

207
The young men float on their backs, their white bellies swell to the sun . . . . they do
                   
not ask who seizes fast to them,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



20 Leaves of Grass.

208
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,
209
They do not think whom they souse with spray.

210
The butcher-boy puts off his killing-clothes, or sharpens his knife at the stall in the
                   
market,
211
I loiter enjoying his repartee and his shuffle and breakdown.

212
Blacksmiths with grimed and hairy chests environ the anvil,
document location text
loc.00346 #ab06 Five or six blacksmiths swing their sledges in overhand overhand overhand
213
Each has his main-sledge . . . . they are all out . . . . there is a great heat in the fire.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab05 when they have a great heat in the fire.—
#ab06 Five or six blacksmiths swing their sledges in overhand overhand overhand

214
From the cinder-strewed threshold I follow their movements,
215
The lithe sheer of their waists plays even with their massive arms,
216
Overhand the hammers roll—overhand so slow—overhand so sure,
document location text
loc.00346 #ab06 Five or six blacksmiths swing their sledges in overhand overhand overhand
217
They do not hasten, each man hits in his place.

218
The negro holds firmly the reins of his four horses . . . . the block swags underneath
                   
on its tied-over chain,
219
The negro that drives the huge dray of the stoneyard . . . . steady and tall he stands
                   
poised on one leg on the stringpiece,
220
His blue shirt exposes his ample neck and breast and loosens over his hipband,
221
His glance is calm and commanding . . . . he tosses the slouch of his hat away from
                   
his forehead,
222
The sun falls on his crispy hair and moustache . . . . falls on the black of his polish'd
                   
and perfect limbs.

223
I behold the picturesque giant and love him . . . . and I do not stop there,
224
I go with the team also.

225
In me the caresser of life wherever moving . . . . backward as well as forward slue-
                   
ing,
document location text
uva.00561 #l01 [cut away]ueing, !
226
To niches aside and junior bending.
document location text
uva.00561 #l02 [cut away]nding, !

227
Oxen that rattle the yoke or halt in the shade, what is that you express in your eyes?
document location text
loc.00142 #p07 The ox is too dtired—he rests standing
uva.00561 #l03 [cut away] halt in the shade,
#l04 [cut away] in your eyes oxen?
228
It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.
document location text
uva.00561 #l05 [cut away] all the print I [cut away] [li?]fe.—

229
My tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and daylong ramble,
document location text
loc.00158 #ab01 "Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" ^ "wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
nyp.00022 #l01 I this day last winter observed the Snow on a spree with the Wild‑Drake; north west wind;
uva.00561 #l06 [cut away] wood-duck on my distan[cut away]
230
They rise together, they slowly circle around.
document location text
loc.00158 #ab01 "Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" ^ "wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561 #l07 [cut away]le around.
231
 . . . . I believe in those winged purposes,
document location text
uva.00561 #l08 [cut away] purposes,
232
And acknowledge the red yellow and white playing within me,
document location text
loc.00158 #ab01 "Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" ^ "wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561 #l09 [cut away]nd white playing within me [cut away]
233
And consider the green and violet and the tufted crown intentional;
document location text
loc.00158 #ab01 "Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" ^ "wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561 #l10 [cut away] the tufted crown intentional[cut away]
234
And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not something else,
document location text
tex.00057 #l04 And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561 #l11 [cut away] because he reads no newspaper [is?] is not something else
235
And the mockingbird in the swamp never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to
                   
me,
document location text
tex.00057 #l04 And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561 #l12 [cut away] passes any statue, studied the gamut, yet t[cut away]
236
And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.
document location text
tex.00057 #l04 And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561 #l13 [cut away] silliness out of [cut away]

237
The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
document location text
loc.00507 #l01 The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 21

238
Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation;
document location text
loc.00507 #l02 Ya‑honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation;
239
The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer,
document location text
loc.00507 #l03 The pert suppose it is meaningless, ^ has no is meaningless, but I listen better closer,
240
I find its purpose and place up there toward the November sky.
document location text
loc.00507 #l04 I find it has its place and sign up there toward the November sky.—

241
The sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee, the
                   
prairie-dog,
document location text
loc.00507 #l05 The clawed cat of the forest, the deer, ^ huge sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee the prairie‑dog,
uva.00601 #item01 chickadee—large brown water-dog—
242
The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,
document location text
loc.00507 #l06 The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,
243
The brood of the turkeyhen, and she with her halfspread wings,
document location text
loc.00507 #l07 The brood of the turkey‑hen, and she with her half‑spread wings,
244
I see in them and myself the same old law.
document location text
loc.00507 #l08 I see them and myself in the same old law.

245
The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw42 And I cannot put my toe anywhe to the ground,
loc.00507 #l09 The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,
246
They scorn the best I can do to relate them.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw44 Each one above scorning all that science of schools and science of the world can do fully to read translate them.
loc.00507 #l10 They scorn the best I can do to relate them.—

247
I am enamoured of growing outdoors,
document location text
duk.00297 #seg01 Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberersrafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.
loc.00507 #l11 I am enamored of growing outdoors,
248
Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods,
document location text
duk.00297 #seg01 Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberersrafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.
loc.00507 #l13 Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or soil,
249
Of the builders and steerers of ships, of the wielders of axes and mauls, of the drivers
                   
of horses,
document location text
duk.00263 #ab01 [I see you and stand before you driver of horses,]
loc.00507 #l12 Of the drivers of horses—
#l14 Of the builders ^ and steerers of ships—
#l15 Of drivers of horses—ofOf wielders Of the wielders of axes and malls.—of ^ the drivers of horses,
loc.05589 #l11 If you have sons habit custom them to be drivers of horses
#l12 I knew six brothers drivers of horses
250
I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.
document location text
loc.00507 #l16 I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.

251
What is commonest and cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me,
document location text
duk.00304 #q01 The most bdivinest blessings are [in?] the commonest bestowed every where, and the ^ most superbest beauties are the cheapest, the world over.—
loc.00507 #l17 What is ^ nearest and commonest ^ and nearest and cheapest ^ and easiest is Me,
loc.05641 #q01 [cut away] Truly, what is commonest, readiest ?, cheapest, of our lives, is often the profoundest, the most curious—has its beginnings the farthest back, and is the hardest problem for thought or science. [cut away]
252
Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
document location text
loc.00507 #l18 Me going in for my chances, . . . spending
#l19 Spending for vast returns,
253
Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
document location text
loc.00507 #l20 Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
254
Not asking the sky to come down to my goodwill,
document location text
loc.00507 #l21 Not asking the sky to come down to receive my good will,
255
Scattering it freely forever.
document location text
loc.00507 #l22 Scattering it freely forever.—

256
The pure contralto sings in the organloft,
document location text
loc.00507 #l23 The pure contralto sings in the organ‑loft,
257
The carpenter dresses his plank . . . . the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild
                   
ascending lisp,
document location text
loc.00507 #l24 The carpenter dresses his plank, . . . . the tongue of his fore‑plane whistles its wild ascending lisp,
258
The married and unmarried children ride home to their thanksgiving dinner,
document location text
loc.00507 #l25 The married and unmarried children ride home to their thanksgiving dinner,
259
The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm,
document location text
loc.00507 #l26 The pilot seizes the king‑pin, . . . . he heaves down with a strong arm,
260
The mate stands braced in the whaleboat, lance and harpoon are ready,
261
The duck-shooter walks by silent and cautious stretches,
262
The deacons are ordained with crossed hands at the altar,
document location text
loc.00142 #p10 Consecration of priests in Trinity Church—interlinking of hands.
263
The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big wheel,
264
The farmer stops by the bars of a Sunday and looks at the oats and rye,
265
The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirmed case,
266
He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's bedroom;
267
The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
268
He turns his quid of tobacco, his eyes get blurred with the manuscript;
269
The malformed limbs are tied to the anatomist's table,
270
What is removed drops horribly in a pail;
271
The quadroon girl is sold at the stand . . . . the drunkard nods by the barroom stove,
272
The machinist rolls up his sleeves . . . . the policeman travels his beat . . . . the gate-
                   
keeper marks who pass,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



22 Leaves of Grass.

273
The young fellow drives the express-wagon . . . . I love him though I do not know
                   
him;
274
The half-breed straps on his light boots to compete in the race,
275
The western turkey-shooting draws old and young . . . . some lean on their rifles,
                   
some sit on logs,
276
Out from the crowd steps the marksman and takes his position and levels his piece;
277
The groups of newly-come immigrants cover the wharf or levee,
278
The woollypates hoe in the sugarfield, the overseer views them from his saddle;
279
The bugle calls in the ballroom, the gentlemen run for their partners, the dancers
                   
bow to each other;
document location text
loc.05589 #l29 The bugle calls in the ballroom—the dancers gentlemen lead out go for their partners—the playing begins—the dancers bow to each other.
280
The youth lies awake in the cedar-roofed garret and harks to the musical rain,
281
The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron,
282
The reformer ascends the platform, he spouts with his mouth and nose,
283
The company returns from its excursion, the darkey brings up the rear and bears the
                   
well-riddled target,
284
The squaw wrapt in her yellow-hemmed cloth is offering moccasins and beadbags for
                   
sale,
285
The connoisseur peers along the exhibition-gallery with halfshut eyes bent sideways,
286
The deckhands make fast the steamboat, the plank is thrown for the shoregoing
                   
passengers,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab40 The deckhand of the steamboat in his red shirt.
287
The young sister holds out the skein, the elder sister winds it off in a ball and stops
                   
now and then for the knots,
288
The one-year wife is recovering and happy, a week ago she bore her first child,
289
The cleanhaired Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine or in the factory or
                   
mill,
290
The nine months' gone is in the parturition chamber, her faintness and pains are ad-
                   
vancing;
291
The pavingman leans on his twohanded rammer—the reporter's lead flies swiftly
                   
over the notebook—the signpainter is lettering with red and gold,
292
The canal-boy trots on the towpath—the bookkeeper counts at his desk—the
                   
shoemaker waxes his thread,
293
The conductor beats time for the band and all the performers follow him,
294
The child is baptised—the convert is making the first professions,
295
The regatta is spread on the bay . . . . how the white sails sparkle!
296
The drover watches his drove, he sings out to them that would stray,
297
The pedlar sweats with his pack on his back—the purchaser higgles about the odd
                   
cent,
298
The camera and plate are prepared, the lady must sit for her daguerreotype,
299
The bride unrumples her white dress, the minutehand of the clock moves slowly,
300
The opium eater reclines with rigid head and just-opened lips,
301
The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on her tipsy and pimpled neck,
302
The crowd laugh at her blackguard oaths, the men jeer and wink to each other,
303
(Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths nor jeer you,)
304
The President holds a cabinet council, he is surrounded by the great secretaries,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 23

305
On the piazza walk five friendly matrons with twined arms;
306
The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of halibut in the hold,
307
The Missourian crosses the plains toting his wares and his cattle,
308
The fare-collector goes through the train—he gives notice by the jingling of loose
                   
change,
309
The floormen are laying the floor—the tinners are tinning the roof—the masons
                   
are calling for mortar,
310
In single file each shouldering his hod pass onward the laborers;
311
Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gathered . . . . it is the
                   
Fourth of July . . . . what salutes of cannon and small arms!
312
Seasons pursuing each other the plougher ploughs and the mower mows and the
                   
wintergrain falls in the ground;
313
Off on the lakes the pikefisher watches and waits by the hole in the frozen surface,
314
The stumps stand thick round the clearing, the squatter strikes deep with his axe,
315
The flatboatmen make fast toward dusk near the cottonwood or pekantrees,
316
The coon-seekers go now through the regions of the Red river, or through those
                   
drained by the Tennessee, or through those of the Arkansas,
317
The torches shine in the dark that hangs on the Chattahoochee or Altamahaw;
318
Patriarchs sit at supper with sons and grandsons and great grandsons around them,
320
The city sleeps and the country sleeps,
321
The living sleep for their time . . . . the dead sleep for their time,
322
The old husband sleeps by his wife and the young husband sleeps by his wife;
document location text
uva.00137 #l04 You husband of a your wife,—you old husband, ^ and you middle‑aged or young husband,
323
And these one and all tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them,
324
And such as it is to be of these more or less I am.

325
I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
document location text
loc.00163 #l04 In me are the old and young the foolish and the wise observer thinker
326
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
327
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
document location text
loc.00163 #q03 A father A mother as well as father, a child as well as a man;
328
Stuffed with the stuff that is coarse, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine,
document location text
loc.00163 #l10 Capable of all that is ugly and mean, and ^ capable of all that is pure and heroic,
329
One of the great nation, the nation of many nations—the smallest the same and the
                   
largest the same,
330
A southerner soon as a northerner, a planter nonchalant and hospitable,
331
A Yankee bound my own way . . . . ready for trade . . . . my joints the limberest
                   
joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth,
332
A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deerskin leggings,
333
A boatman over the lakes or bays or along coasts . . . . a Hoosier, a Badger, a
                   
Buckeye,
334
A Louisianian or Georgian, a poke-easy from sandhills and pines,
335
At home on Canadian snowshoes or up in the bush, or with fishermen off New-
                   
foundland,
336
At home in the fleet of iceboats, sailing with the rest and tacking,
337
At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine or the Texan ranch,
338
Comrade of Californians . . . . comrade of free northwesterners, loving their big
                   
proportions,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



24 Leaves of Grass,

339
Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen—comrade of all who shake hands and welcome
                   
to drink and meat;
340
A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfulest,
341
A novice beginning experient of myriads of seasons,
342
Of every hue and trade and rank, of every caste and religion,
343
Not merely of the New World but of Africa Europe or Asia . . . . a wandering
                   
savage,
document location text
loc.00163 #q04 [A?] Not only an American, but an African Europeand, and Asiatic,
344
A farmer, mechanic, or artist . . . . a gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker,
document location text
loc.00163 #q05 A lawyer, a doctor, a priest, a farmer sailor, an artist,
#q06 A ^ farmer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a sailor, a cook,
345
A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician or priest.
document location text
loc.00163 #q05 A lawyer, a doctor, a priest, a farmer sailor, an artist,

346
I resist anything better than my own diversity,
347
And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,
document location text
yal.00483 #l03 There is plenty of air left while I breathe and afterward.
348
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.
document location text
yal.00483 #l02 I am not stuck up for these reasons;
#l04 Because I am in my place what of that?

349
The moth and the fisheggs are in their place,
document location text
yal.00483 #l06 The fly and the leaf of grass are in their place;
350
The suns I see and the suns I cannot see are in their place,
document location text
nyp.00088 #l02 And I carry ^ the straight threads [f?] thence thence to the sun and to distant unseen suns.—
yal.00483 #l07 The seen and unseen suns are in their place;
351
The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.

352
These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with
                   
me,
document location text
duk.00026 #l01 I am not content now with a mere majority . . . . I must have the love of all men and all women,
duk.00029 #l01 ^ I perceive that Sages, poets, inventers, benefactors, lawgivers are but only those who think have thought,
#l02 ^ That Maugre all differences of ages and lands they differ not,
loc.00141 #l99 These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands—
#l100 They are not original with me—they are mine —they are yours just the same
353
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing or next to nothing,
document location text
loc.00141 #l100 They are not original with me—they are mine —they are yours just the same
#l101 If these thoughts are not for all they are nothing
354
If they do not enclose everything they are next to nothing,
document location text
loc.00141 #l102 If they do not enclose everything they are nothing
355
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,
document location text
loc.00141 #l103 If they are not the school of all [the?] physical moral and mental they are nothing
356
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.

357
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,
358
This is the common air that bathes the globe.
document location text
duk.00029 #l03 That What they leave is the common stock of the race
loc.00141 #tw68 This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

359
This is the breath of laws and songs and behaviour,
360
This is the the tasteless water of souls . . . . this is the true sustenance,
361
It is for the illiterate . . . . it is for the judges of the supreme court . . . . it is for the
                   
federal capitol and the state capitols,
document location text
loc.00354 #l01 Shall [illegible] speak in the Presidents Message from the porch of the ^ Federal Capitol, and in the Governors' Messages from the State Capitols, and in the rulings of the Judges of the Supreme Court,
362
It is for the admirable communes of literary men and composers and singers and
                   
lecturers and engineers and savans,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw68 This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.
363
It is for the endless races of working people and farmers and seamen.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw68 This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

364
This is the trill of a thousand clear cornets and scream of the octave flute and strike
                   
of triangles.

365
I play not a march for victors only . . . . I play great marches for conquered and
                   
slain persons.

366
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
367
I also say it is good to fall . . . . battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are
                   
won.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 25

368
I sound triumphal drums for the dead . . . . I fling through my embouchures the
                   
loudest and gayest music to them,
369
Vivas to those who have failed, and to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea,
                   
and those themselves who sank in the sea,
370
And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes, and the number-
                   
less unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known.

371
This is the meal pleasantly set . . . . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger,
372
It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous . . . . I make appointments with all,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw68 This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.
373
I will not have a single person slighted or left away,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw70 I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will ^ have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.
374
The keptwoman and sponger and thief are hereby invited . . . . the heavy-lipped slave
                   
is invited . . . . the venerealee is invited,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw70 I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will ^ have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.
375
There shall be no difference between them and the rest.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw70 I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will ^ have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.

376
This is the press of a bashful hand . . . . this is the float and odor of hair,
377
This is the touch of my lips to yours . . . . this is the murmur of yearning,
378
This is the far-off depth and height reflecting my own face,
379
This is the thoughtful merge of myself and the outlet again.

380
Do you guess I have some intricate purpose?
381
Well I have . . . . for the April rain has, and the mica on the side of a rock has.

382
Do you take it I would astonish?
383
Does the daylight astonish? or the early redstart twittering through the woods?
document location text
loc.00158 #ab10 "Redstart"—beautiful small bird arrives here latter part of April, returns south late in September—common in woods and along roadside and meadow—feeds on insects—active—has a lively twitter.—
384
Do I astonish more than they?

385
This hour I tell things in confidence,
386
I might not tell everybody but I will tell you.

387
Who goes there! hankering, gross, mystical, nude?
388
How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?

389
What is a man anyhow? What am I? and what are you?
390
All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own,
document location text
uva.00568 #l01 Whatever I say of myself, you shall apply to yourself
391
Else it were time lost listening to me.
document location text
uva.00568 #l02 If you do not, it is were [illegible] time lost listening to me.

392
I do not snivel that snivel the world over,
393
That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth,
394
That life is a suck and a sell, and nothing remains at the end but threadbare crape
                   
and tears.
document location text
loc.05589 #p02 The life of man on earth is the chef d'ouvre of all things.— What then! is it a suck?—Has God tried conceived a joke, and tried it on, and is it a small one?

395
Whimpering and truckling fold with powders for invalids . . . . conformity goes to
                   
the fourth-removed,
396
I cock my hat as I please indoors or out.

397
Shall I pray? Shall I venerate and be ceremonious?
document location text
nyp.00089 #l01 I shall venerate hours and days, [illegible] and think their ^ immeasurable infinite stupendous hereafter;



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



26 Leaves of Grass.

398
I have pried through the strata and analyzed to a hair,
document location text
nyp.00089 #l02 I ^ am finding how much I am passing can pass through in a few minutes.—
399
And counselled with doctors and calculated close and found no sweeter fat than
                   
sticks to my own bones.

400
In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less,
401
And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them.

402
And I know I am solid and sound,
document location text
loc.00346 #q19 ^ Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, ^ isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings ^ as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the ^ my curtain.—
403
To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
document location text
loc.00346 #q19 ^ Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, ^ isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings ^ as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the ^ my curtain.—
404
All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.
document location text
loc.00346 #q19 ^ Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, ^ isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings ^ as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the ^ my curtain.—
uva.00238 #l01 I am ^ a a Student, free of all a vast limitless Library; it is they are —it is ^ limitless and eternally open to me;
#l02 It is The books are written in numberless tongues,always perfect, always and alive;

405
And I know I am deathless,
406
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
407
I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt stick at night.

408
I know I am august,
409
I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg02 The Elementary Laws do not get excited and run and bawl to vindicate themselves.
410
I see that the elementary laws never apologize,
document location text
nyp.00129 #seg02 The Elementary Laws do not get excited and run and bawl to vindicate themselves.
411
I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by after all.

412
I exist as I am, that is enough,
413
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
414
And if each and all be aware I sit content.

415
One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,
416
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,
417
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.

418
My foothold is tenoned and mortised in granite,
419
I laugh at what you call dissolution,
420
And I know the amplitude of time.
document location text
loc.00025 #seg101 [cut away] amplitude of her means, [illegible] time is inconceivably ample.—
loc.00346 #ab03 Of all the plenty in nature there is, no plenty is comparable to the plenty of time and space.—Of these there is ample store,—there is no limit

421
I am the poet of the body,
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l02 I am the poet of the body
#l05 I am the poet of the body
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
#tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
#l38 I am the Poet
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
422
And I am the poet of the soul.
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l03 And I am
#l06 And I am the poet of the soul
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
#tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things

423
The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me,
424
The first I graft and increase upon myself . . . . the latter I translate into a new
                   
tongue.

425
I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg10 tender to children and old people and women—
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
#tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
#tw47 I am the poet of women as well as men.
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
426
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
document location text
loc.00141 #l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#tw48 The woman is not the same less than the man as
loc.00163 #q02 I say that nothing is every man he is great to himself and every woman to herself;
loc.05589 #p01 I have been asked, Which is the greater, the man or the woman?—Yes, I tell you, with the same answer that I tell whether Time is greater than space—and wh[illegible]
427
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
document location text
loc.05589 #p01 I have been asked, Which is the greater, the man or the woman?—Yes, I tell you, with the same answer that I tell whether Time is greater than space—and wh[illegible]

428
I chant a new chant of dilation or pride,
document location text
duk.00262 #l01 And brings me perpetual word that Goodness is the Dilation or Pride is a Mother father of Causes,
#l02 And that the a Father mother of Causes is Love Dilation or Pride. Goodness or Love.—
#l19 I beheld Goodness ^ Dilation Pride Dilation just the same in the grave.— afterward, and concord just the same in the grave— afterward.—
loc.00141 #tw13 Dilation
nyp.00129 #l100 Love is the cause of causes,
#p03 There are two attributes ? of the soul, and both are illimitable, and they are its north latitude and its south latitude.—One of these is Love.—The other is Dilation or Pride There is nothing so in-conceivable haughty as the
429
We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,
430
I show that size is only developement.
document location text
duk.00293 #seg11 But when such an one a man with all that is not trapped into any partiality or sh—when he strikes the eternal balance between the eternal average of the developed and the undeveloped—
loc.00025 #ab07 Greatness is simply development
loc.00346 #q17 But ^ greatness is the other word for developement, and in my soul to me I know that I am great large and strong as any of them, probably greater.— larger.—



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 27

431
Have you outstript the rest? Are you the President?
432
It is a trifle . . . . they will more than arrive there every one, and still pass on.

433
I am he that walks with the tender and growing night;
434
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

435
Press close barebosomed night! Press close magnetic nourishing night!
436
Night of south winds! Night of the large few stars!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l01 Night of south winds—Night of the large few sta[cut away]
437
Still nodding night! Mad naked summer night!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l18 Still ^ [cut away] Night of Sleep—my bridal Night!
#l02 Still slumberous night—
#l03 Mad, naked, summer Night!

438
Smile O voluptuous coolbreathed earth!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l05 Smile, O voluptuous, procreant Earth!
439
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l06 Earth of the nodding and beckoning ^ [sub[illegible]?] liquid trees!
440
Earth of departed sunset! Earth of the mountains misty-topt!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l07 Earth of the mountains, misty-topt!
#l08 Earth of departed sunset—Earth of shine and dark, mottling the tide of the river!
441
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l09 Earth of the vitreous shower fall of the full moon, just tinged with blue! as she rises!
442
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l08 Earth of departed sunset—Earth of shine and dark, mottling the tide of the river!
443
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l10 Earth of the limpid gray of clouds purer and clearer for my sake!
444
Far-swooping elbowed earth! Rich apple-blossomed earth!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l11 Earth of large far arms—rich apple-blossomed Earth!
445
Smile, for your lover comes!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l04 Smile, for your lover comes!
#l12 Smile [illegible] for your lover comes.— Smile for your lover comes!

446
Prodigal! you have given me love! . . . . therefore I to you give love!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l13 Prodigal! you have given me love;
#l14 Therefore I to you give love;
447
O unspeakable passionate love!
document location text
nyp.00078 #l15 O, unspeakable, vital passionate love!

448
Thruster holding me tight and that I hold tight!
449
We hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride hurt each other.

450
You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
451
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
452
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
453
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
454
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
455
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you.

456
Sea of stretched ground-swells!
457
Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths!
458
Sea of the brine of life! Sea of unshovelled and always-ready graves!
459
Howler and scooper of storms! Capricious and dainty sea!
460
I am integral with you . . . . I too am of one phase and of all phases.

461
Partaker of influx and efflux . . . . extoler of hate and conciliation,
462
Extoler of amies and those that sleep in each others' arms.

463
I am he attesting sympathy;
464
Shall I make my list of things in the house and skip the house that supports them?

465
I am the poet of commonsense and of the demonstrable and of immortality;
document location text
duk.00104 #ab01 [illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
loc.00042 #l02 I am the Poet of Reality;
#l07 I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialism s: and exact demonstration and Positive science
loc.00141 #l202 II am the poet of sStrength and Hope
#tw28 I am the poet of reality
466
And am not the poet of goodness only . . . . I do not decline to be the poet of wick-
                   
edness also.
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l202 II am the poet of sStrength and Hope
#tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



28 Leaves of Grass.

467
Washes and razors for foofoos . . . . for me freckles and a bristling beard.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw18 the freckles ^ and bristly beard of Jupiter— [illegible] in to to be removed by washes and razors,

468
What blurt is it about virtue and about vice?
document location text
loc.00158 #l05 [illegible] [Virtue?] and about Vice [cut away]
med.00902 #ab01 What babble is this about virtue . . . . . . . . . . . .
#ab02 I tell you I love all—I love what you call vice just the same as I love virtue.
469
Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me . . . . I stand indifferent,
470
My gait is no faultfinder's or rejecter's gait,
471
I moisten the roots of all that has grown.
document location text
loc.00158 #l02 I have not appeared to take any with violent hands to pull up by the roots any thing that has grown,

472
Did you fear some scrofula out of the unflagging pregnancy?
document location text
loc.00158 #l03 Do you suppose fancy there was any flaw ^ is some waters in the semen of the first perpetual copulation?
473
Did you guess the celestial laws are yet to be worked over and rectified?
document location text
loc.00158 #l04 Do you believe of suppose the universe [illegible] celestial laws of might be reformed and rectified?

474
I step up to say that what we do is right and what we affirm is right . . . . and some
                   
is only the ore of right,
document location text
loc.00158 #l01 I have appeared among you to say that all what you do is right, and that what you affirm is right;
#l101 But that [it is?] they are only the alphabet? of right.—
475
Witnesses of us . . . . one side a balance and the antipodal side a balance,
document location text
loc.00042 #l06 Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141 #l450 And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of ^ things equally real wh[illegible]th we ^ [illegible] do [illegible] not ^ yet seen
#l451 But which is I know to be equally real, I know.
476
Soft doctrine as steady help as stable doctrine,
477
Thoughts and deeds of the present our rouse and early start.

478
This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,
479
There is no better than it and now.

480
What behaved well in the past or behaves well today is not such a wonder,
481
The wonder is always and always how there can be a mean man or an infidel.

482
Endless unfolding of words of ages!
483
And mine a word of the modern . . . . a word en masse.

484
A word of the faith that never balks,
485
One time as good as another time . . . . here or henceforward it is all the same to
                   
me.

486
A word of reality . . . . materialism first and last imbueing.
document location text
duk.00104 #ab01 [illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
loc.00042 #l02 I am the Poet of Reality;
#l07 I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialism s: and exact demonstration and Positive science
#l08 Reality is eternal;
#l09 say that It is just ^ Materials are just as eternal as Growth [illegible] growth, the semen of God, that swims the entire [universe.?] creation.—
loc.00141 #tw28 I am the poet of reality

487
Hurrah for positive science! Long live exact demonstration!
document location text
duk.00104 #ab01 [illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
loc.00042 #l07 I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialism s: and exact demonstration and Positive science
#l10 Hurrah for Material Positive Science! Positive Science!
loc.00141 #tw203 And now I know ^ understand that it is what the it is all ^ those are positive and dense ^ every one
488
Fetch stonecrop and mix it with cedar and branches of lilac;
document location text
loc.00042 #l11 Bring honey‑clover and branches of lilac!
489
This is the lexicographer or chemist . . . . this made a grammar of the old
                   
cartouches,
document location text
loc.00042 #l12 These are the ^ serene Philosophers of Nature,;
#l13 Travelling, the earth sailing, measuring space,
490
These mariners put the ship through dangerous unknown seas,
document location text
loc.00042 #l13 Travelling, the earth sailing, measuring space,
491
This is the geologist, and this works with the scalpel, and this is a mathematician.
document location text
loc.00042 #l14 Botanizing, dissecting, or making machines.—

492
Gentlemen I receive you, and attach and clasp hands with you,
493
The facts are useful and real . . . . they are not my dwelling . . . . I enter by them to
                   
an area of the dwelling.
document location text
loc.00042 #l05 But that all the things seen or demonstrated are so;
loc.00141 #tw27 What we see is real; But that all I see ^ [the things seen?] [all?] is real

494
I am less the reminder of property or qualities, and more the reminder of life,
495
And go on the square for my own sake and for others' sakes,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg02 when he isgoes on the square with those who have not yet climbed as high as he—
tex.00031 #l02 But I do not know any thing more beautiful than to be freehanded and always go on the square.—
#l32 But I do not know ^ of any thing more beautiful than to be free handed and generous and always go on the square.—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 29

496
And make short account of neuters and geldings, and favor men and women fully
                   
equipped,
497
And beat the gong of revolt, and stop with fugitives and them that plot and conspire.

498
Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos,
document location text
uva.00570 #l05 I am W W— — the American
499
Disorderly fleshy and sensual . . . . eating drinking and breeding,
500
No sentimentalist . . . . no stander above men and women or apart from them . . . . no
                   
more modest than immodest.

501
Unscrew the locks from the doors!
502
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!

503
Whoever degrades another degrades me . . . . and whatever is done or said returns
                   
at last to me,
504
And whatever I do or say I also return.

505
Through me the afflatus surging and surging . . . . through me the current and index.

506
I speak the password primeval . . . . I give the sign of democracy;
document location text
loc.00387 #seg02 (As for me I am a born loafer.— democrat.—
uva.00269 #l02 I descend [many?] steps—I go backward primeval
507
By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the
                   
same terms.
document location text
duk.00128 #p02 I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
duk.00800 #p02 It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which ^ that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated ^ and pious, classes, under the prefer certain ^ political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.— ^ These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse ^ shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.— [I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
#p01 The noble soul sternly always steadily rejects any [any?] [any?] [liberty?] or favor that or privilege of or wealth that is not equall open on the same terms to every other man and every other woman on the face of the
loc.00141 #tw02 It is to accept nothing except what is equally free and eligible to every body else.
loc.00163 #q13 I [am?] remain with my fellows,—with mechanics, and farmers and common people;
#q14 I remain with them all on equal terms
loc.00387 #seg03 I assume this day, the whole debt of all
#seg04 I take my place by right among the sudorous or sweaty men classes, who feel know not whether among the boys men in their shirt sleeves,—the sunburnt, the unshaved, the huge paws.—)
loc.05589 #ab30 such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible] ^ was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws ^ [illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither ^ under his hand and ^ [lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics ^ presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
med.00903 #ab01 I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031 #l04 I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes ^ exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
#l28 I remain with common people on equal average terms.—

508
Through me many long dumb voices,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
509
Voices of the interminable generations of slaves,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
510
Voices of prostitutes and of deformed persons,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
uva.00263 #l09 If you be diseased, deformed, a thief, you need me the more.—
#l10 You thief! you diseased!—deformed!
511
Voices of the diseased and despairing, and of thieves and dwarfs,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
uva.00263 #l09 If you be diseased, deformed, a thief, you need me the more.—
#l10 You thief! you diseased!—deformed!
512
Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
513
And of the threads that connect the stars—and of wombs, and of the fatherstuff,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
#tw33 And saw millions ^ the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
#tw35 And now I know that each a leaf of grass is not less than they
nyp.00088 #l02 And I carry ^ the straight threads [f?] thence thence to the sun and to distant unseen suns.—
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
514
And of the rights of them the others are down upon,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg01 indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned
515
Of the trivial and flat and foolish and despised,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg10 tender to children and old people and women—
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
loc.05589 #ab14 I am the poet of the shallow and flat and desp[ised?]
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
516
Of fog in the air and beetles rolling balls of dung.
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw32 I am I The Of the each [ab?] gnats in the air, and the every of beetles rolling ^ his balls ^ of dung,

517
Through me forbidden voices,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg01 indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned
518
Voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voices veiled, and I remove the veil,
document location text
duk.00293 #seg01 indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned
519
Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured.
document location text
duk.00293 #seg01 indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
#ab5 ☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141 #tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned

520
I do not press my finger across my mouth,
521
I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart,
522
Copulation is no more rank to me than death is.

523
I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
524
Seeing hearing and feeling are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw15 My life is a miracle and my body which lives is a miracle
loc.00346 #q12 We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any ^ all or ^ the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—^ By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
uva.00254 #l08 One A tTouch of a tag of me tassel, has unhaltered jolted down all of them but feeling;

525
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touched from;
526
The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer,
527
This head is more than churches or bibles or creeds.
document location text
duk.00261 #l05 [cut away] all of them and all existing creeds grows not so much of God as I grow in my moustache,



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



30 Leaves of Grass.

528
If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my body;
529
Translucent mould of me it shall be you,
530
Shaded ledges and rests, firm masculine coulter, it shall be you,
531
Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you,
532
You my rich blood, your milky stream pale strippings of my life;
533
Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you,
534
My brain it shall be your occult convolutions,
535
Root of washed sweet-flag, timorous pond-snipe, nest of guarded duplicate eggs, it
                   
shall be you,
document location text
duk.00883 #item01 Sweet flag
536
Mixed tussled hay of head and beard and brawn it shall be you,
537
Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you;
document location text
duk.00883 #ab04 The sSweet [Trickling?] Trickling sSap ^ that trickles drops flows from the end of the [poli?] little manly maple tooth of delight tooth-prong—tine
538
Sun so generous it shall be you,
539
Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you,
540
You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you,
541
Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you,
542
Broad muscular fields, branches of liveoak, loving lounger in my winding paths, it
                   
shall be you,
543
Hands I have taken, face I have kissed, mortal I have ever touched, it shall be you.

544
I dote on myself . . . . there is that lot of me, and all so luscious,
545
Each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy.

546
I cannot tell how my ankles bend . . . . nor whence the cause of my faintest wish,
547
Nor the cause of the friendship I emit . . . . nor the cause of the friendship I take
                   
again.

548
To walk up my stoop is unaccountable . . . . I pause to consider if it really be,
document location text
loc.05589 #seg21 All tThis we call literature and science is not so very much—there is enough of unaccountable importance and beauty in every step we tread and every thought of [illegible]
549
That I eat and drink is spectacle enough for the great authors and schools,
document location text
loc.05589 #seg20 The few who write the books and preach the sermons and ?keep? the schools—I do not think ther are they so much more than those who do not teach or preach, or write
550
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

551
To behold the daybreak!
552
The little light fades the immense and diaphanous shadows,
553
The air tastes good to my palate.

554
Hefts of the moving world at innocent gambols, silently rising, freshly exuding,
555
Scooting obliquely high and low.

556
Something I cannot see puts upward libidinous prongs,
557
Seas of bright juice suffuse heaven.

558
The earth by the sky staid with . . . . the daily close of their junction,
559
The heaved challenge from the east that moment over my head,
560
The mocking taunt, See then whether you shall be master!

561
Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me,
562
If I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 31

563
We also ascend dazzling and tremendous as the sun,
564
We found our own my soul in the calm and cool of the daybreak.

565
My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
566
With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.

567
Speech is the twin of my vision . . . . it is unequal to measure itself.

568
It provokes me forever,
569
It says sarcastically, Walt, you understand enough . . . . why don't you let it out
                   
then?

570
Come now I will not be tantalized . . . . you conceive too much of articulation.

571
Do you not know how the buds beneath are folded?
572
Waiting in gloom protected by frost,
573
The dirt receding before my prophetical screams,
document location text
tex.00030 #l07 The earth recedes ashamed before my prophetical crisis.—
574
I underlying causes to balance them at last,
575
My knowledge my live parts . . . . it keeping tally with the meaning of things,
576
Happiness . . . . which whoever hears me let him or her set out in search of this
                   
day.
document location text
loc.00005 #seg01 It is happiness.—Every Each man ^ and every each woman is eligible to it, without education just the as readily as with whoever reads these words, let him or her set out upon the search this day, and never rest till

577
My final merit I refuse you . . . . I refuse putting from me the best I am.

578
Encompass worlds but never try to encompass me,
579
I crowd your noisiest talk by looking toward you.

580
Writing and talk do not prove me,
581
I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face,
582
With the hush of my lips I confound the topmost skeptic.

583
I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,
584
And accrue what I hear into myself . . . . and let sounds contribute toward me.

585
I hear the bravuras of birds . . . . the bustle of growing wheat . . . . gossip of flames
                   
 . . . . clack of sticks cooking my meals.

586
I hear the sound of the human voice . . . . a sound I love,
document location text
loc.05935 #l100 The laugh sounds out and the beautiful sound of the human voice a sound I love.
587
I hear all sounds as they are tuned to their uses . . . . sounds of the city and sounds
                   
out of the city . . . . sounds of the day and night;
588
Talkative young ones to those that like them . . . . the recitative of fish-pedlars and
                   
fruit-pedlars . . . . the loud laugh of workpeople at their meals,
589
The angry base of disjointed friendship . . . . the faint tones of the sick,
590
The judge with hands tight to the desk, his shaky lips pronouncing a death-sentence,
591
The heave'e'yo of stevedores unlading ships by the wharves . . . . the refrain of the
                   
anchor-lifters;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



32 Leaves of Grass.

592
The ring of alarm-bells . . . . the cry of fire . . . . the whirr of swift-streaking engines
                   
and hose-carts with premonitory tinkles and colored lights,
593
The steam-whistle . . . . the solid roll of the train of approaching cars;
594
The slow-march played at night at the head of the association,
595
They go to guard some corpse . . . . the flag-tops are draped with black muslin.

596
I hear the violincello or man's heart's complaint,
document location text
tex.00088 #seg01 the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .
597
And hear the keyed cornet or else the echo of sunset.
document location text
tex.00088 #seg02 the cornet, that puts the call theof day ^ [break?] light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—
uva.00264 #l01 And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!

598
I hear the chorus . . . . it is a grand-opera . . . . this indeed is music!
document location text
loc.00142 #seg09 I want a sublime an infinite chorus and orchestrium, wide as the orbit of the farthest stars Uranus ? reliable as immortality falling in truly true as the hours of ^ the day, and night, and filling my capacityies to receive, as thoroughly as the sea fills its scooped out valleys. sands.—
#seg18 We I want the a sublime ? of Hymn out some vast chorus and orchestrium, whose strain is wide as the world, orbits of suns, reliable pure as Jesus and sweet as the kisses of Hea[ven?] ^ [runs out surpass?] immortality, and filling all my capacity to receive as ^ [illegible] the sea fills scooped out valleys.

599
A tenor large and fresh as the creation fills me,
document location text
loc.00142 #del01 I want that untied tenor, clean and fresh as the Creation, whose vast pure volume floods my soul.
#del02 I want that tenor ^ [large and fresh as the creation?] the [illegible] parting of whose ^ [dark?] and orbed mouth shall [illegible] for me ^ lift behind over my head the sluices of Paradise all ^ the delight in the universe. that is
#add01 I want that tenor, large and fresh as the creation, the ^ orbed parting of whose orbed mouth shall lift over my head the sluices [illegible] of all the delight there is. yet discovered for our race.
#seg19 I want the boundless tenor that which swell clean and fresh as the Creation—whose vast pure volume floods my soul.
600
The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full.
document location text
loc.00142 #del02 I want that tenor ^ [large and fresh as the creation?] the [illegible] parting of whose ^ [dark?] and orbed mouth shall [illegible] for me ^ lift behind over my head the sluices of Paradise all ^ the delight in the universe. that is
#add01 I want that tenor, large and fresh as the creation, the ^ orbed parting of whose orbed mouth shall lift over my head the sluices [illegible] of all the delight there is. yet discovered for our race.
#seg19 I want the boundless tenor that which swell clean and fresh as the Creation—whose vast pure volume floods my soul.
nyp.00510 #q01 The orbed opening of whose mouth—

601
I hear the trained soprano . . . . she convulses me like the climax of my
View side-by-side images (new window)
love-grip Image: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BGSU_01 HU_06 JHU_01 NYPL_08 NYPL_12 PC_13 PC_14 PSU_01 UCLA_01 URI_01 UTA_01 UnC_01 WFU_02 YU_01 YU_06
document location text
loc.00142 #seg08 —I want the soprano that ^ lithely overleaps the stars, and convulses me like the love‑grip of her in whose arms I lielay [illegible] last night.
#seg20 I want the soprano that that thrills me like kisses of Heaven, that that ^ over⹀leaps unfaltering to the stars.+
602
The orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg09 I want a sublime an infinite chorus and orchestrium, wide as the orbit of the farthest stars Uranus ? reliable as immortality falling in truly true as the hours of ^ the day, and night, and filling my capacityies to receive, as thoroughly as the sea fills its scooped out valleys. sands.—
#seg18 We I want the a sublime ? of Hymn out some vast chorus and orchestrium, whose strain is wide as the world, orbits of suns, reliable pure as Jesus and sweet as the kisses of Hea[ven?] ^ [runs out surpass?] immortality, and filling all my capacity to receive as ^ [illegible] the sea fills scooped out valleys.
nyp.00510 #ab01 is wider than the west.—
603
It wrenches unnamable ardors from my breast,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg01 *shall uncage in my breast a thousand [illegible] ^ armed great winged broad‑ wide‑winged strengths and unknown ardors and terrible extasies—putting me through the paces flights of all the passions—dilating me beyond time and space— air—
#seg10 I want the chanted Hymn whose tremendous sentiment,
#seg10b shall put me through all the my paces and powers, uncage in my heart a thousand new strengths, and unknown ardors and terrible extasies—making me enter intrinsically into all passions—dilating me beyond time and space
#seg14 and uncaging waking in my heart all a thousand terrible new strengths and [illegible] ardors and ter extasies.—
604
It throbs me to gulps of the farthest down horror,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg02 startling me with the overture toof some unnamable horror
#seg11 soothing ^ lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—
605
It sails me . . . . I dab with bare feet . . . . they are licked by the indolent waves,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg03 calmly sailing me all day on a broad bright river ^ with lazy slapping waves—
#seg11 soothing ^ lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—
606
I am exposed . . . . cut by bitter and poisoned hail,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg04 stabbing my heart with myriads of forked distractions more furious than hail or lightning
#seg12 tearing wrenching stabbing me with the wild elks horses of ^ myriads of forked distractions that leap through my bossom [illegible]s more furious than hail hail and lightning.
607
Steeped amid honeyed morphine . . . . my windpipe squeezed in the fakes of death,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg05 lulling me drowsily with honeyed opium morphinewrithing tight'ning the coils fakes of death about my throat,
#seg11 soothing ^ lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—
#seg13 that leap lulling me drowsily with [illegible] honeyed morphine opium
#seg15 writhing around me the folds coils of collapsing death,
608
Let up again to feel the puzzle of puzzles,
document location text
loc.00142 #seg06 and awakening me again to know, by that comparison, the only most positive wonder in the world,
#seg16 and awakening me again to know, by that comparison, the only positive wonder in the world,
609
And that we call Being.
document location text
loc.00142 #seg07 and that's what we call life.
#seg17 and that's what we call life.—

610
To be in any form, what is that?
document location text
duk.00001 #l01 To be at all—what is greater better than that?
611
If nothing lay more developed the quahaug and its callous shell were enough.
document location text
duk.00001 #l02 I think if there were nothing more developed, the clam in its callous shell in the sand, were august enough.—|

612
Mine is no callous shell,
document location text
duk.00001 #l03 I am not in any callous shell;
613
I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop,
document location text
duk.00001 #l04 I am cased with supple conductors, all over;
614
They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
document location text
duk.00001 #l05 They take every object by the hand, and lead it within me.—
uva.00602 #l05 Harmlessly softly pushing through

615
I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy,
616
To touch my person to some one else's is about as much as I can stand.
document location text
loc.00141 #l59 Now I do not wonder a touch now why that ^ one feeling now, or does so much for me, now,

617
Is this then a touch? . . . . quivering me to a new identity,
document location text
duk.00007 #l08 An inch's contact
618
Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
document location text
duk.00007 #l09 My feeling has made me brave from
619
Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,
620
My flesh and blood playing out lightning, to strike what is hardly different from
                   
myself,
document location text
duk.00007 #l09 My feeling has made me brave from
#l10 I am brave from th
621
On all sides prurient provokers stiffening my limbs,
622
Straining the udder of my heart for its withheld drip,
623
Behaving licentious toward me, taking no denial,
624
Depriving me of my best as for a purpose,
document location text
loc.00141 #l58 Each brings the best she has,
625
Unbuttoning my clothes and holding me by the bare waist,
626
Deluding my confusion with the calm of the sunlight and pasture fields,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 33

627
Immodestly sliding the fellow-senses away,
document location text
duk.00008 #l04 So little a thing as a touch has [unhaltered?]
loc.00141 #l52 One touch of a tug of me has made unhaltered all my other senses [run?] but feeling
uva.00254 #l07 What has become of my senses?
#l08 One A tTouch of a tag of me tassel, has unhaltered jolted down all of them but feeling;
628
They bribed to swap off with touch, and go and graze at the edges of me,
document location text
loc.00141 #l53 They are all emulous to swap themselves off for what it can do, to them,
#l151 ¶ Every one wants to must be feeling a touch.—
#l54 Or if that cannot be else, they she will abdicate and nibble only at the edges of a touch. feeling.
#l55 They bring gifts to the come move caressingly all over ^ up and down my body
#l57 They have left leave themselves and brought all their come with bribes ^ their store to whatever ^ [their?] to whatever part of me touches.—
tex.00002 #l08 Take what you like, ^ only pass on [for?] I am faintish [illegible] I can contain resist you no [longer?] think I shall drop sink,
uva.00254 #l10 They are all emulous to swap off for what it can do to them.
#l11 Every one must be a touch, ^ would swap off and go with him,
#l12 Or else she will abdicate, and nibble at the edges end of [illegible] him.— edges of me.—
629
No consideration, no regard for my draining strength or my anger,
document location text
tex.00002 #l12 I am faintish I am faintish; and ^ it has drained me dry of my strength.—
uva.00273 #l01 Can ? make me so exuberant yet so faintish?
#l02 The rage of an unconquerable fierceness is conquered by the touch tenderest hand
630
Fetching the rest of the herd around to enjoy them awhile,
document location text
loc.00141 #l60 It brings all the rest around it, and to enjoy [them?] and them awhile and [then?] and they ^ [all?] stand on a headland and mock me
631
Then all uniting to stand on a headland and worry me.
document location text
loc.00141 #l56 They stand on [my?] each finger end and promontory,
#l60 It brings all the rest around it, and to enjoy [them?] and them awhile and [then?] and they ^ [all?] stand on a headland and mock me

632
The sentries desert every other part of me,
document location text
loc.00141 #l63 All ^ The sentries have deserted and the every other part of [illegible] [home?] but one,
633
They have left me helpless to a red marauder,
document location text
loc.00141 #l57 They have left leave themselves and brought all their come with bribes ^ their store to whatever ^ [their?] to whatever part of me touches.—
#l65 They have left me to touch ^ and gone taken to be their place on a headland the better to witness
#l66 They have left me helpless to the torrent of touch
634
They all come to the headland to witness and assist against me.
document location text
loc.00141 #l65 They have left me to touch ^ and gone taken to be their place on a headland the better to witness
#l67 They have all come to the
#l75 headland to witness and assist against me.—

635
I am given up by traitors;
document location text
loc.00141 #l150 That pleases the rest so, they have given up to it f themselves in submission
#l61 I am all given up by traitors,
#l68 I am given up by traitors,
uva.00254 #l09 That He pleases the rest so, they have given up to it, in submission,
636
I talk wildly . . . . I have lost my wits . . . . I and nobody else am the greatest
                   
traitor,
document location text
loc.00141 #l62 An I am myself the greatest traitor.
#l64 I roam about drunk, and stagger
#l69 I talk wildly [I?] am surely out of my head,
#l70 I am myself the greatest traitor.
uva.00280 #l01 [cut away] am myself ^ and nobody else, am the greatest traitor,
uva.00600 #l03 Surely I am out of my head!
#l04 I am lost to myself and someth something else Nature in another form has laid down in my place.
637
I went myself first to the headland . . . . my own hands carried me there.
document location text
loc.00141 #l71 For I went myself first to the headland
uva.00280 #l02 I went myself myself first to the headland, [my?] own hands carried me there.

638
You villain touch! what are you doing? . . . . my breath is tight in its throat;
document location text
loc.00141 #l72 Unloose me touch I can stand it no longer you are taking the breath from my throat
tex.00002 #l01 You villain, Touch! what are you doing?
#l02 Unloose me, Touch! the breath is leaving my throat;!
639
Unclench your floodgates! you are too much for me.
document location text
loc.00141 #l73 Unbar your gates—I can hold would keep you no longer, for if I do you are too much for me.— you will kill me
tex.00002 #l03 Open your floodgates! you are too much for me.—

640
Blind loving wrestling touch! Sheathed hooded sharptoothed touch!
document location text
loc.00141 #l76 Fierce Wrestler! do you keep your heaviest strokes grip for the last?
#l77 Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
tex.00002 #l04 Fierce [Griping?] Grip'd Wrestler! do you keep your the heaviest grip pull for the last?
#l06 Are you I glad you plunged ^ you from the threshold, will ^ Must Will you struggle ^ [illegible] hardest [than?] worst all [illegible] before? I plunge you from the [thres?]
uva.00254 #l03 Only one minute, only two or three passing bulging sheathed touches,
641
Did it make you ache so leaving me?
document location text
loc.00141 #l74 Pass out of me
#l76 Fierce Wrestler! do you keep your heaviest strokes grip for the last?
#l77 Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
#l78 Will you struggle even at the grthreshold with gigantic delicious spasms more delicious than all before?
#l80 Does it make you ache so to leave me?
tex.00002 #l04 Fierce [Griping?] Grip'd Wrestler! do you keep your the heaviest grip pull for the last?
#l05 Will Must you sting me most even the you with the worst spasms worst most fierce [most tightly closely?] ^ bite with your teeth at parting?
#l07 Does it make you ache so to leave me.
#l10 Only pass to some one else, for I can will contain you no longer.
#l11 Only pass to some one else ^ leap to the nearest landing. ¶Little as your mouth yo [illegible] lips are
uva.00602 #l01 His very aches are exstasy

642
Parting tracked by arriving . . . . perpetual payment of the perpetual loan,
document location text
loc.00141 #l77 Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
#l79 Will you renew th[illegible] and
tex.00002 #l08 Take what you like, ^ only pass on [for?] I am faintish [illegible] I can contain resist you no [longer?] think I shall drop sink,
#l09 Take drops the tears of my life soul, if that is what you are after.
643
Rich showering rain, and recompense richer afterward.
document location text
loc.00141 #l81 Do you wish to show me that even what you did before was nothing to what you can do?
tex.00002 #l09 Take drops the tears of my life soul, if that is what you are after.

644
Sprouts take and accumulate . . . . stand by the curb prolific and vital,
645
Landscapes projected masculine full-sized and golden.

646
All truths wait in all things,
document location text
loc.00346 #seg01 All truths lie hidde waiting in all things.
prc.00127 #l04 All truths stand ready wait in all things; places;
647
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
document location text
loc.00346 #seg02 They neither urge the opening of themselves nor resist it.—
prc.00127 #l06 They neither urge their own birth nor resist it;
648
They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,
document location text
loc.00346 #seg03 And the For their birth you need not the obstetric orforceps of the surgeon.
prc.00127 #l07 They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon;
649
The insignificant is as big to me as any,
document location text
loc.00141 #l83 I did not think I was big enough for so much exstasy
prc.00127 #l02 The insignificant grows as tall spreads as far is as much ^ big as the noble;
650
What is less or more than a touch?
document location text
duk.00008 #l04 So little a thing as a touch has [unhaltered?]
loc.00141 #l84 Or that a touch could take it all out of me.
prc.00127 #l03 What is less than a sheathed? touch?

651
Logic and sermons never convince,
document location text
duk.00261 #l07 Go, with your logic and testaments among ten men
loc.05589 #p04 The test of the goodness or truth of any thing is the soul itself—whatever does good to the soul, soothes, refreshes, cheers, inspirits, consoles, &c.—that is so, easy enough—But doctrines, sermons, logic ? ?
prc.00127 #l10 Logic and sermons never convince; me;
652
The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.
document location text
prc.00127 #l11 The dew of the night drives deeper into my the soul.—

653
Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so,
document location text
duk.00007 #l05 Henceforth After this day, A touch shall henceforth be ^ small Little things is shall be are henceforth my my [tongue?] proof and argument
prc.00127 #l12 An eternal A test of any thing!
#l13 It proves itself to the experience ^ and senses of all men and women!
654
Only what nobody denies is so.

655
A minute and a drop of me settle my brain;
document location text
duk.00007 #l04 A minute of time, a touch, and a drop of us, can launch immortality.
loc.00141 #l82 Pass as you will; take drops of my life, only go. or is if that is what you are after
656
I believe the soggy clods shall become lovers and lamps,
657
And a compend of compends is the meat of a man or woman,
658
And a summit and flower there is the feeling they have for each other,
659
And they are to branch boundlessly out of that lesson until it becomes omnific,
660
And until every one shall delight us, and we them.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



34 Leaves of Grass.

661
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab1 * Bring in whole races, or castes, or generations, to express themselves—personify the general objects of the creation and give them voice—every thing on the most august scale—a leaf of grass, with its equal voice.—
loc.00141 #tw33 And saw millions ^ the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
#tw34 And has known since that
#tw35 And now I know that each a leaf of grass is not less than they
med.00726 #seg01 For example, whisper privately in your ear . . . the studies . . . be a rich investment if they . . . to bring the hat instantly off the . . . all his learning and bend himself to feel and fully enjoy . . . superb wonder of a blade of grass growing up green and crispy from the ground.
yal.00483 #l06 The fly and the leaf of grass are in their place;
662
And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,
document location text
duk.00260 #l05 barn‑yard, pond, yellow gjagged bank with white pebbelestones timothy, sassafras, grasshopper, pismire, rail‑fence
#l10 robin—wren—
loc.00141 #tw36 And that the pismire is ^ equally perfect, and all the every grains of sand, and every egg of the wren.
663
And the tree-toad is a chef-d'ouvre for the highest,
document location text
duk.00260 #l09 the path ^ worn in the grass—katy‑did, locust, tree‑toad,
loc.00141 #tw37 And the [knotty?] tree-toad is a chef' douvre for the highest,
664
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
document location text
duk.00260 #l07 long string of running blackberry—
loc.00141 #tw38 And the running-blackberry mocks the ornaments of would adorn the house parlors of Heaven
665
And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
666
And the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses any statue,
document location text
duk.00260 #l08 regular ^ sound of the cow crunching, crunching the grass—
loc.00141 #tw39 And the cow crunching with depressed neck surpasses all statues every statue,
tex.00057 #l09 And ^ to me the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses is an a every statue ^ perfect and plumb;
uva.00561 #l12 [cut away] passes any statue, studied the gamut, yet t[cut away]
667
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw213 Is picture enough
#tw41 * And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger an infidel, trillions of infidels.
nyp.00733 #l03 Is not aA mouse ^ is miracle enough to stagger billions of infidels?
668
And I could come every afternoon of my life to look at the farmer's girl boiling her
                   
iron tea-kettle and baking shortcake.

669
I find I incorporate gneiss and coal and long-threaded moss and fruits and grains and
                   
esculent roots,
document location text
loc.00141 #p02 The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—
#tw29 I know you too, solid earth hills ground and and rocks,
#tw30 I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea
670
And am stucco'd with quadrupeds and birds all over,
document location text
loc.00141 #p02 The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—
671
And have distanced what is behind me for good reasons,
672
And call any thing close again when I desire it.

673
In vain the speeding or shyness,
674
In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my approach,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw29 I know you too, solid earth hills ground and and rocks,
#tw30 I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea
675
In vain the mastadon retreats beneath its own powdered bones,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l01 [cut away] vain the mastadon retreats beneath its half-powdered bones,
676
In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l02 In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,
677
In vain the ocean settling in hollows and the great monsters lying low,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw30 I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea
nyp.00079 #l03 In vain the sea sets ^ ocean settling in its hollows, and the great monsters lieying low,
678
In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l04 In vain the buzzard houses herself in ^ with the sky,
679
In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l05 In vain the snake slides through the creepers and rocks stones logs,
680
In vain the elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l06 In vain the moose ? puma elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,
681
In vain the razorbilled auk sails far north to Labrador,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l07 In vain the razor‑billed auk sails far north to Labrador,
682
I follow quickly . . . . I ascend to the nest in the fissure of the cliff.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw211 I built a nest in the Afar in the sky here was a sky nest
#tw62 I follow (animals and birds.)
nyp.00079 #l08 I follow quickly . . . . I ascend to the nest in the fissure of the cliff.—

683
I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals . . . . they are so placid and self-
                   
contained,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw62 I follow (animals and birds.)
nyp.00079 #l09 I believe I ^ think I will could turn again and live awhile awhile [illegible] with the an[cut away]
#l10 [cut away] are so placid and self-contained,
684
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
document location text
nyp.00079 #l11 [cut away] [can?] stand and look observe watch on at them all day long,— by the [illegible] hour and the [cut away] [cut away] can stand and look at them them sometimes all half the day long.

685
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l13 They do not sweat and whine about their condition
686
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l14 They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
687
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
document location text
nyp.00079 #l15 They do not make me sick, discussing their duty to God;
688
Not one is dissatisfied . . . . not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
document location text
loc.00141 #p01 The world ^ ignorant man is demented with the madness of owning things—of having title by warranty deeds and lawful possession court clerks' records, and with perfect the right to mortgage, sell, dispose of give away or raise money on certain possessions.—But the wisest soul knows that nothing ^ no not one object in the vast universe can really be owned by one man or woman any more than another.—The measureless fool orthodox who fancies that who proprietor says [t?] This is mine. I earned or received or paid for it,—and ^ by [an?] positive right of [my own I?] I will put this a fence around it, and keep the it exclusively to myself. . . . . . yYet—yet—what ^ cold drop is that it that ^ which slowly patters, patters like water fine points cold with sharp and specks of water down poisoned points, on the skull of his greediness, and go whichever way he will may, it still hits him, as though he see not whence it comes drips nor what it is?—How can I be so that dismal and measureless fool not to understand see the hourly lessons of an the ^ one eternal law, which that he who would grab blessings to himself, and as by right, and deny others their equal chance—and will not share with them every thing that he has
nyp.00079 #l16 Not one is dissatisified . . . . not one takes medicine or is demented with the mania of owning things,
689
Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
690
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

691
So they show their relations to me and I accept them;
692
They bring me tokens of myself . . . . they evince them plainly in their possession.

693
I do not know where they got those tokens,
694
I must have passed that way untold times ago and negligently dropt them,
695
Myself moving forward then and now and forever,
696
Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 35

697
Infinite and omnigenous and the like of these among them;
698
Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,
699
Picking out here one that shall be my amie,
700
Choosing to go with him on brotherly terms.

701
A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,
702
Head high in the forehead and wide between the ears,
703
Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
704
Eyes well apart and full of sparkling wickedness . . . . ears finely cut and flexibly
                   
moving.

705
His nostrils dilate . . . . my heels embrace him . . . . his well built limbs tremble with
                   
pleasure . . . . we speed around and return.

706
I but use you a moment and then I resign you stallion . . . . and do not need your
                   
paces, and outgallop them,
707
And myself as I stand or sit pass faster than you.

708
Swift wind! Space! My Soul! Now I know it is true what I guessed at;
709
What I guessed when I loafed on the grass,
710
What I guessed while I lay alone in my bed . . . . and again as I walked the beach
                   
under the paling stars of the morning.

711
My ties and ballasts leave me . . . . I travel . . . . I sail . . . . my elbows rest in the
                   
sea-gaps,
712
I skirt the sierras . . . . my palms cover continents,
713
I am afoot with my vision.

714
By the city's quadrangular houses . . . . in log-huts, or camping with lumbermen,
715
Along the ruts of the turnpike . . . . along the dry gulch and rivulet bed,
716
Hoeing my onion-patch, and rows of carrots and parsnips . . . . crossing savannas . . . 
                   
trailing in forests,
717
Prospecting . . . . gold-digging . . . . girdling the trees of a new purchase,
718
Scorched ankle-deep by the hot sand . . . . hauling my boat down the shallow river;
719
Where the panther walks to and fro on a limb overhead . . . . where the buck turns
                   
furiously at the hunter,
720
Where the rattlesnake suns his flabby length on a rock . . . . where the otter is
                   
feeding on fish,
721
Where the alligator in his tough pimples sleeps by the bayou,
722
Where the black bear is searching for roots or honey . . . . where the beaver pats
                   
the mud with his paddle-tail;
723
Over the growing sugar . . . . over the cottonplant . . . . over the rice in its low
                   
moist field;
724
Over the sharp-peaked farmhouse with its scalloped scum and slender shoots from
                   
the gutters;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



36 Leaves of Grass.

725
Over the western persimmon . . . . over the longleaved corn and the delicate blue-
                   
flowered flax;
726
Over the white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest,
document location text
nyp.00549 #q02 All the woods and all the orchards—the corn, with its ear and stalks and tassels—the buckwheat with and its sweet white blossoms tops where and the bees ^ that hum ^ there all day—
727
Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze;
728
Scaling mountains . . . . pulling myself cautiously up . . . . holding on by low scrag-
                   
ged limbs,
729
Walking the path worn in the grass and beat through the leaves of the brush;
document location text
duk.00260 #l09 the path ^ worn in the grass—katy‑did, locust, tree‑toad,
duk.00942 #l100 In the course of the winding path through the grass
med.00904 #ab02 A path worn in the grass . . . . . . . . . .
730
Where the quail is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheatlot,
731
Where the bat flies in the July eve . . . . where the great goldbug drops through the
                   
dark;
732
Where the flails keep time on the barn floor,
733
Where the brook puts out of the roots of the old tree and flows to the meadow,
document location text
duk.00260 #l04 Into supple youth, or dr a dress of surpassing living richness spring gushing out from under the roots of an old tree
734
Where cattle stand and shake away flies with the tremulous shuddering of their
                   
hides,
735
Where the cheese-cloth hangs in the kitchen, and andirons straddle the hearth-slab,
                   
and cobwebs fall in festoons from the rafters;
736
Where triphammers crash . . . . where the press is whirling its cylinders;
737
Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes out of its ribs;
document location text
med.00909 #l01 I entertain all the aches of the human heart
738
Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft . . . . floating in it myself and look-
                   
ing composedly down;
739
Where the life-car is drawn on the slipnoose . . . . where the heat hatches pale-
                   
green eggs in the dented sand,
document location text
loc.00142 #p02 The life car—the ? to shoot the rope over the ship—the ? on which the life car runs—and the process of passing them ashore
uva.00261 #l01 Where the life car is drawn on its slip‑noose
740
Where the she-whale swims with her calves and never forsakes them,
741
Where the steamship trails hindways its long pennant of smoke,
742
Where the ground-shark's fin cuts like a black chip out of the water,
743
Where the half-burned brig is riding on unknown currents,
744
Where shells grow to her slimy deck, and the dead are corrupting below;
745
Where the striped and starred flag is borne at the head of the regiments;
746
Approaching Manhattan, up by the long-stretching island,
747
Under Niagara, the cataract falling like a veil over my countenance;
748
Upon a door-step . . . . upon the horse-block of hard wood outside,
749
Upon the race-course, or enjoying pic-nics or jigs or a good game of base-ball,
750
At he-festivals with blackguard jibes and ironical license and bull-dances and
                   
drinking and laughter,
751
At the cider-mill, tasting the sweet of the brown sqush . . . . sucking the juice
                   
through a straw,
document location text
loc.00158 #ab111 Phallic festivals.—wild mirthful processions in honor of the god Dionysus (Bacchus)—in Athens, and other parts of Greece—unbounded license—mocking jibes and irony—epithets and biting insults
752
At apple-pealings, wanting kisses for all the red fruit I find,
753
At musters and beach-parties and friendly bees and huskings and house-raisings;
754
Where the mockingbird sounds his delicious gurgles, and cackles and screams and
                   
weeps,
755
Where the hay-rick stands in the barnyard, and the dry-stalks are scattered, and the
                   
brood cow waits in the hovel,
756
Where the bull advances to do his masculine work, and the stud to the mare, and the
                   
cock is treading the hen,
757
Where the heifers browse, and the geese nip their food with short jerks;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 37

758
Where the sundown shadows lengthen over the limitless and lonesome prairie,
759
Where the herds of buffalo make a crawling spread of the square miles far and
                   
near;
document location text
loc.00142 #p03 He drinks up quickly All terms, all languages, and words. meanings.—To his curbless and bottomless powers, they are as be like the small ponds of rain water to the migrating herds of buffalo when they spread over occupy square miles and who make the earth ^ [illegible] miles square. look like a creeping spread.—Look See! he has only passed this way, and they are drained dry.
760
Where the hummingbird shimmers . . . . where the neck of the longlived swan is
                   
curving and winding;
761
Where the laughing-gull scoots by the slappy shore and laughs her near-human
                   
laugh;
document location text
uva.00265 #l02 the unearthly laugh of the laughing-gull, and the odor of saltmarsh and shoremud. odor.—
762
Where beehives range on a gray bench in the garden half-hid by the high weeds;
763
Where the band-necked partridges roost in a ring on the ground with their heads
                   
out;
764
Where burial coaches enter the arched gates of a cemetery;
765
Where winter wolves bark amid wastes of snow and icicled trees;
766
Where the yellow-crowned heron comes to the edge of the marsh at night and feeds
                   
upon small crabs;
767
Where the splash of swimmers and divers cools the warm noon;
document location text
med.00910 #l01 Where the boys dive and splash in the bath.
768
Where the katydid works her chromatic reed on the walnut-tree over the well;
document location text
med.00901 #ab01 The Katy-did works her chromatic reed in the tree over the well.
769
Through patches of citrons and cucumbers with silver-wired leaves,
770
Through the salt-lick or orange glade . . . . or under conical furs;
771
Through the gymnasium . . . . through the curtained saloon . . . . through the office
                   
or public hall;
document location text
tul.00011 #ab01 Poem—a perfect school, gymnastic, moral, mental and sentimental,—in which magnificent men are formed —old persons come just as much as youth—gymnastics, physiology, music, swimming bath —conversation,—declamation— —large saloons adorned with pictures and sculpture—great ideas not taught in sermons but imbibed as health is imbibed— —love—love of woman—all manly exercises —riding, rowing—the greatest persons come—the president comes and the governors come—political economy —the American idea in all its amplitude and comprehensiveness— —grounds, gardens, flowers, grains— cabinets—old history taught—
yal.00138 #seg10 Go to the swimming bath, the gymnasium, the new buildings where the ^ working carpenters and masons are.—
772
Pleased with the native and pleased with the foreign . . . . pleased with the new
                   
and old,
773
Pleased with women, the homely as well as the handsome,
774
Pleased with the quakeress as she puts off her bonnet and talks melodiously,
775
Pleased with the primitive tunes of the choir of the whitewashed church,
776
Pleased with the earnest words of the sweating Methodist preacher, or any preacher
                   
 . . . . looking seriously at the camp-meeting;
777
Looking in at the shop-windows in Broadway the whole forenoon . . . . pressing the
                   
flesh of my nose to the thick plate-glass,
document location text
nyp.00119 #l01 As seen in the windows of the shops, passing up as I turn from and over the crowded street, and peer ^ through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods
#l02 In Broadway, the reflections, ^ moving, glistening, silent like phantasmic,— glistening
778
Wandering the same afternoon with my face turned up to the clouds;
779
My right and left arms round the sides of two friends and I in the middle;
780
Coming home with the bearded and dark-cheeked bush-boy . . . . riding behind him
                   
at the drape of the day;
781
Far from the settlements studying the print of animals' feet, or the moccasin print;
782
By the cot in the hospital reaching lemonade to a feverish patient,
783
By the coffined corpse when all is still, examining with a candle;
784
Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure;
785
Hurrying with the modern crowd, as eager and fickle as any,
786
Hot toward one I hate, ready in my madness to knife him;
787
Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while,
788
Walking the old hills of Judea with the beautiful gentle god by my side;
document location text
loc.00141 #ab03 If God himself ^ If I walk with Jah in ^ Heaven and he assume to be intrinsically greater than I, it offends me, and I will ^ shall certainly withdraw myself from Heaven,—for the great soul will prefers freedom in the lonesomest prairie to to or the woo untrodden woods—and there can be no freedom where
789
Speeding through space . . . . speeding through heaven and the stars,
document location text
nyp.00116 #ab01 conveying the sentiment of the mad, whirling, fullout speed of the stars, in their circular orbits
790
Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring and the diameter of eighty
                   
thousand miles,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



38 Leaves of Grass.

791
Speeding with tailed meteors . . . . throwing fire-balls like the rest,
792
Carrying the crescent child that carries its own full mother in its belly;
793
Storming enjoying planning loving cautioning,
document location text
loc.00163 #l01 Scheming, storming planning, loving cautioning
794
Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,
document location text
loc.00163 #l02 Appearing and d Laughing and weeping, Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing
795
I tread day and night such roads.
document location text
loc.00163 #l03 I travel day and night [such?] [illegible] these eternal roads

796
I visit the orchards of God and look at the spheric product,
797
And look at quintillions ripened, and look at quintillions green.

798
I fly the flight of the fluid and swallowing soul,
799
My course runs below the soundings of plummets.

800
I help myself to material and immaterial,
801
No guard can shut me off, no law can prevent me.

802
I anchor my ship for a little while only,
803
My messengers continually cruise away or bring their returns to me.

804
I go hunting polar furs and the seal . . . . leaping chasms with a pike-pointed staff
                   
 . . . . clinging to topples of brittle and blue.

805
I ascend to the foretruck . . . . I take my place late at night in the crow's nest . . . .
                   
we sail through the arctic sea . . . . it is plenty light enough,
806
Through the clear atmosphere I stretch around on the wonderful beauty,
807
The enormous masses of ice pass me and I pass them . . . . the scenery is plain in
                   
all directions,
808
The white-topped mountains point up in the distance . . . . I fling out my fancies
                   
toward them;
809
We are about approaching some great battlefield in which we are soon to be
                   
engaged,
810
We pass the colossal outposts of the encampments . . . . we pass with still feet and
                   
caution;
811
Or we are entering by the suburbs some vast and ruined city . . . . the blocks and
                   
fallen architecture more than all the living cities of the globe.

812
I am a free companion . . . . I bivouac by invading watchfires.

813
I turn the bridegroom out of bed and stay with the bride myself,
814
And tighten her all night to my thighs and lips.

815
My voice is the wife's voice, the screech by the rail of the stairs,
816
They fetch my man's body up dripping and drowned.

817
I understand the large hearts of heroes,
document location text
loc.00346 #l01 All the greatness and beau large hearts of heroes,
818
The courage of present times and all times;
document location text
loc.00346 #l02 All the courage of olden time and new


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 39

819
How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steamship, and death
                   
chasing it up and down the storm,
document location text
loc.00024 #ab01 When the San Francisco was wrecked, the most valuable gjewelry lay about the cabin unnoticed on the floor
loc.00346 #l03 What How spied the the captain and sailors ^ the [illegible] great wreck with its [helpless?] drifting hundreds,
#l04 did when they ^ How they waited, their craft shooting madly like an arrow up and down in the storm.
nyp.00129 #seg01 When Creighton ^ [re?] hove too to for many days and nights and rescued the wrecked thousand on the sSan Francisco
820
How he knuckled tight and gave not back one inch, and was faithful of days and
                   
faithful of nights,
document location text
loc.00346 #l05 And in that deadly sea waited five ^ How they gripped close with Death ^ there on the sea, and gave him not one inch, but held on days and nights near the helpless ^ fogged great wreck,
nyp.00129 #seg01 When Creighton ^ [re?] hove too to for many days and nights and rescued the wrecked thousand on the sSan Francisco
821
And chalked in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, We will not desert you;
document location text
loc.00346 #li25 And wrote chalked on a great board, Be of good cheer, we will not desert you, and held it up as they to against the and did it;
822
How he saved the drifting company at last,
document location text
loc.00346 #li25 And wrote chalked on a great board, Be of good cheer, we will not desert you, and held it up as they to against the and did it;
823
How the lank loose-gowned women looked when boated from the side of their
                   
prepared graves,
document location text
loc.00346 #l06 How the ^ lank white faced women looked as they when ferried them safely at last as from ^ the sides their [waiting?] prepared graves
824
How the silent old-faced infants, and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipped unshaved
                   
men;
document location text
loc.00346 #l07 How the children, and the ^ lifted sick, and the sharp-lipped, unshaved men;
825
All this I swallow and it tastes good . . . . I like it well, and it becomes mine,
document location text
loc.00346 #l08 All this he I drinks swallows in his my soul, and it becomes his mine, and he I likes it well,
826
I am the man . . . . I suffered . . . . I was there.
document location text
loc.00346 #l09 He is I am the man; [illegible] he I suffered, he I was there:

827
The disdain and calmness of martyrs,
document location text
loc.00346 #l11 All the beautiful disdain and calmness of martyrs
828
The mother condemned for a witch and burnt with dry wood, and her children
                   
gazing on;
document location text
loc.00346 #l12 The old woman that was chained and burnt with dry wood, and her children looking on,
#l13 The great queens that walked serenely to the block,
829
The hounded slave that flags in the race and leans by the fence, blowing and
                   
covered with sweat,
document location text
loc.00346 #l14 The ^ hunted slave that who stood could run no longer, ^ flags in the race at last and then stood by leans leaned up by the fence, blowing [panting?] and covered with sweat,
830
The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck,
document location text
loc.00346 #l19 And [the how?] the twinges that sting like needles his breast and neck
831
The murderous buckshot and the bullets,
document location text
loc.00346 #l18 And the buck shot, were
#l20 The murderous buck-shot planted like terrible and the bullets.
832
All these I feel or am.
document location text
loc.00346 #l21 This All [illegible] this he I not only feels and sees feels [am?] but

833
I am the hounded slave . . . . I wince at the bite of the dogs,
document location text
loc.00346 #l22 He is I am the hunted slave,
834
Hell and despair are upon me . . . . crack and again crack the marksmen,
document location text
loc.00346 #l23 Damnation and despair are close upon him me
835
I clutch the rails of the fence . . . . my gore dribs thinned with the ooze of my skin,
document location text
loc.00346 #l3 His blood My gore presently oozes from ^ trickles down ^ from a [score of?] and [illegible] and thinned with the plentiful sweat salt ooze of my skin,
#l4 And ^ [See how it?] ^ as trickles down the black [skin?]
#l24 He I clutches the rail of the fence.
836
I fall on the weeds and stones,
document location text
loc.00346 #l9 I He slowly falls on the ^ reddened grass and stones,
837
The riders spur their unwilling horses and haul close,
document location text
loc.00346 #l5 And the hunters haul up close with their unwilling horses,
838
They taunt my dizzy ears . . . . they beat me violently over the head with their
                   
whip-stocks.
document location text
loc.00346 #l6 And Till the taunt and curse oath [sink?] swim ^ away from my dim and dizzy ^ away from my in his ears

839
Agonies are one of my changes of garments;
840
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels . . . . I myself become the wounded
                   
person,
841
My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.

842
I am the mashed fireman with breastbone broken . . . . tumbling walls buried me in
                   
their debris,
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
843
Heat and smoke I inspired . . . . I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades,
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
844
I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels;
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
845
They have cleared the beams away . . . . they tenderly lift me forth.
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

846
I lie in the night air in my red shirt . . . . the pervading hush is for my sake,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab40 The deckhand of the steamboat in his red shirt.
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
847
Painless after all I lie, exhausted but not so unhappy,
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
848
White and beautiful are the faces around me . . . . the heads are bared of their fire-
                   
caps,
document location text
loc.05935 #p01 I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—
849
The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



40 Leaves of Grass.

850
Distant and dead resuscitate,
851
They show as the dial or move as the hands of me . . . . and I am the clock myself.

852
I am an old artillerist, and tell of some fort's bombardment . . . . and am there again.
document location text
loc.00163 #q08 Don't forget the bombardment
loc.05589 #l39 I am an old artillerist
#l40 I tell of some
nyp.00511 #l03 Did you hear of the Hear now I can tell of ^ the long besieged city fort on the frontier citadel city???
#l01 I was in its last bombardment.

853
Again the reveille of drummers . . . . again the attacking cannon and mortars and
                   
howitzers,
document location text
nyp.00511 #l02 No need of a reveille from the drummers that mor[cut away]
854
Again the attacked send their cannon responsive.

855
I take part . . . . I see and hear the whole,
856
The cries and curses and roar . . . . the plaudits for well aimed shots,
857
The ambulanza slowly passing and trailing its red drip,
858
Workmen searching after damages and to make indispensible repairs,
859
The fall of grenades through the rent roof . . . . the fan-shaped explosion,
860
The whizz of limbs heads stone wood and iron high in the air.

861
Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general . . . . he furiously waves with his
                   
hand,
862
He gasps through the clot . . . . Mind not me . . . . mind . . . . the entrenchments.

863
I tell not the fall of Alamo . . . . not one escaped to tell the fall of Alamo,
864
The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo.

865
Hear now the tale of a jetblack sunrise,
866
Hear of the murder in cold blood of four hundred and twelve young men.

867
Retreating they had formed in a hollow square with their baggage for breastworks,
868
Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemy's nine times their number was the
                   
price they took in advance,
869
Their colonel was wounded and their ammunition gone,
870
They treated for an honorable capitulation, received writing and seal, gave up their
                   
arms, and marched back prisoners of war.

871
They were the glory of the race of rangers,
872
Matchless with a horse, a rifle, a song, a supper or a courtship,
873
Large, turbulent, brave, handsome, generous, proud and affectionate,
874
Bearded, sunburnt, dressed in the free costume of hunters,
875
Not a single one over thirty years of age.

876
The second Sunday morning they were brought out in squads and massacred . . . . it
                   
was beautiful early summer,
877
The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.

878
None obeyed the command to kneel,
879
Some made a mad and helpless rush . . . . some stood stark and straight,
880
A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart . . . . the living and dead lay together,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 41

881
The maimed and mangled dug in the dirt . . . . the new-comers saw them there;
882
Some half-killed attempted to crawl away,
883
These were dispatched with bayonets or battered with the blunts of muskets;
884
A youth not seventeen years old seized his assassin till two more came to release
                   
him,
885
The three were all torn, and covered with the boy's blood.

886
At eleven o'clock began the burning of the bodies;
887
And that is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men,
888
And that was a jetblack sunrise.

889
Did you read in the seabooks of the oldfashioned frigate-fight?
890
Did you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?

891
Our foe was no skulk in his ship, I tell you,
892
His was the English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer, and never was, and
                   
never will be;
893
Along the lowered eve he came, horribly raking us.

894
We closed with him . . . . the yards entangled . . . . the cannon touched,
895
My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

896
We had received some eighteen-pound shots under the water,
897
On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at the first fire, killing all around
                   
and blowing up overhead.

898
Ten o'clock at night, and the full moon shining and the leaks on the gain, and five feet
                   
of water reported,
899
The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in the after-hold to give them a
                   
chance for themselves.

900
The transit to and from the magazine was now stopped by the sentinels,
901
They saw so many strange faces they did not know whom to trust.

902
Our frigate was afire . . . . the other asked if we demanded quarters? if our colors
                   
were struck and the fighting done?

903
I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain,
904
We have not struck, he composedly cried, We have just begun our part of the
                   
fighting.

905
Only three guns were in use,
906
One was directed by the captain himself against the enemy's mainmast,
907
Two well-served with grape and canister silenced his musketry and cleared his decks.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



42 Leaves of Grass.

908
The tops alone seconded the fire of this little battery, especially the maintop,
909
They all held out bravely during the whole of the action.

910
Not a moment's cease,
911
The leaks gained fast on the pumps . . . . the fire eat toward the powder-magazine,
912
One of the pumps was shot away . . . . it was generally thought we were sinking.

913
Serene stood the little captain,
914
He was not hurried . . . . his voice was neither high nor low,
915
His eyes gave more light to us than our battle-lanterns.

916
Toward twelve at night, there in the beams of the moon they surrendered to us.

917
Stretched and still lay the midnight,
918
Two great hulls motionless on the breast of the darkness,
919
Our vessel riddled and slowly sinking . . . . preparations to pass to the one we had
                   
conquered,
920
The captain on the quarter deck coldly giving his orders through a countenance
                   
white as a sheet,
921
Near by the corpse of the child that served in the cabin,
922
The dead face of an old salt with long white hair and carefully curled whiskers,
923
The flames spite of all that could be done flickering aloft and below,
924
The husky voices of the two or three officers yet fit for duty,
925
Formless stacks of bodies and bodies by themselves . . . . dabs of flesh upon the
                   
masts and spars,
926
The cut of cordage and dangle of rigging . . . . the slight shock of the soothe of
                   
waves,
927
Black and impassive guns, and litter of powder-parcels, and the strong scent,
928
Delicate sniffs of the seabreeze . . . . smells of sedgy grass and fields by the shore . . . 
                   
death-messages given in charge to survivors,
document location text
tex.00057 #l02 And I perceive that the salt marsh sea sedgy weed has delicious refreshing odors;
929
The hiss of the surgeon's knife and the gnawing teeth of his saw,
930
The wheeze, the cluck, the swash of falling blood . . . . the short wild scream, the
                   
long dull tapering groan,
931
These so . . . . these irretrievable.

932
O Christ! My fit is mastering me!
933
What the rebel said gaily adjusting his throat to the rope-noose,
document location text
loc.00346 #l8 What the rebel, when he felt gaily adjusting his neck to the rope noose,
934
What the savage at the stump, his eye-sockets empty, his mouth spirting whoops
                   
and defiance,
document location text
loc.00346 #l1 What the red ^ brown savage, lashed to the stump, but ^ [spirting?] launching yelling still his yells and laughter to at every foe
935
What stills the traveler come to the vault at Mount Vernon,
936
What sobers the Brooklyn boy as he looks down the shores of the Wallabout and
                   
remembers the prison ships,
937
What burnt the gums of the redcoat at Saratoga when he surrendered his brigades,
document location text
loc.00158 #seg01 Look out there's "Take heed to yourselves—there's a mad man stalking loose through in the ship, with a knife in his hands,"—such was the warning sung out at night more than once below in the Old Jersey prison ship, ^ 1780 moored at the Wallabout, in the revolution.—
nyp.00023 #l01 What choked the throat talk ^ [illegible] throat of the general brigadier, when he surrendered gave up his army; brigade;
938
These become mine and me every one, and they are but little,
document location text
nyp.00023 #l02 These become mine and me, every one;
939
I become as much more as I like.
document location text
nyp.00023 #l03 And I become much more when I like.—



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 43

940
I become any presence or truth of humanity here,
941
And see myself in prison shaped like another man,
942
And feel the dull unintermitted pain.

943
For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their carbines and keep watch,
944
It is I let out in the morning and barred at night.

945
Not a mutineer walks handcuffed to the jail, but I am handcuffed to him and walk
                   
by his side,
946
I am less the jolly one there, and more the silent one with sweat on my twitching
                   
lips.

947
Not a youngster is taken for larceny, but I go up too and am tried and sentenced.

948
Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp, but I also lie at the last gasp,
949
My face is ash-colored, my sinews gnarl . . . . away from me people retreat.

950
Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embodied in them,
951
I project my hat and sit shamefaced and beg.

952
I rise extatic through all, and sweep with the true gravitation,
953
The whirling and whirling is elemental within me.

954
Somehow I have been stunned. Stand back!
955
Give me a little time beyond my cuffed head and slumbers and dreams and gaping,
956
I discover myself on a verge of the usual mistake.

957
That I could forget the mockers and insults!
document location text
loc.00141 #l94 In vain ^ were the nails driven through my hands, and my head my head mocked with a prickly
#l96 The I remember the mockers and the buffeting insults
958
That I could forget the trickling tears and the blows of the bludgeons and hammers!
document location text
loc.00141 #l94 In vain ^ were the nails driven through my hands, and my head my head mocked with a prickly
959
That I could look with a separate look on my own crucifixion and bloody crowning!
document location text
loc.00141 #l95 I am here after I remember my crucifixion and my bloody coronation

960
I remember . . . . I resume the overstaid fraction,
document location text
loc.00141 #l95 I am here after I remember my crucifixion and my bloody coronation
#l96 The I remember the mockers and the buffeting insults
961
The grave of rock multiplies what has been confided to it  . . . . or to any
                   
graves,
962
The corpses rise . . . . the gashes heal . . . . the fastenings roll away.

963
I troop forth replenished with supreme power, one of an average unending
                   
procession,
document location text
loc.00141 #l97 I am just as alive in New York and San Francisco, after two thousand years.
964
We walk the roads of Ohio and Massachusetts and Virginia and Wisconsin and
                   
New York and New Orleans and Texas and Montreal and San Francisco and
                   
Charleston and Savannah and Mexico,
document location text
loc.00141 #l97 I am just as alive in New York and San Francisco, after two thousand years.
#l98 Again I tread the streets after two thousand years.
965
Inland and by the seacoast and boundary lines . . . . and we pass the boundary lines.

966
Our swift ordinances are on their way over the whole earth,
967
The blossoms we wear in our hats are the growth of two thousand years.
document location text
loc.00141 #l97 I am just as alive in New York and San Francisco, after two thousand years.
#l98 Again I tread the streets after two thousand years.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



44 Leaves of Grass.

968
Eleves I salute you,
document location text
loc.00354 #l100 I do not forget fail to salute you with my hand and neck, you poets of all ages and lands,
969
I see the approach of your numberless gangs . . . . I see you understand yourselves
                   
and me,
970
And know that they who have eyes are divine, and the blind and lame are equally
                   
divine,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab43 Any one can [illegible] may know that the great heroes and poets are divine
971
And that my steps drag behind yours yet go before them,
972
And are aware how I am with you no more than I am with everybody.

973
The friendly and flowing savage . . . . Who is he?
974
Is he waiting for civilization or past it and mastering it?

975
Is he some southwesterner raised outdoors? Is he Canadian?
976
Is he from the Mississippi country? or from Iowa, Oregon or California? or from
                   
the mountains? or prairie life or bush-life? or from the sea?

977
Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him,
978
They desire he should like them and touch them and speak to them and stay with
                   
them.

979
Behaviour lawless as snow-flakes . . . . words simple as grass . . . . uncombed head
                   
and laughter and naivete;
980
Slowstepping feet and the common features, and the common modes and emanations,
981
They descend in new forms from the tips of his fingers,
document location text
loc.01019 #q02 descend from the tips of his fingers, from the smell of his body, from the vapor of his lungs,
loc.05705 #ab01 From the tips of his fingers
982
They are wafted with the odor of his body or breath . . . . they fly out of the glance
                   
of his eyes.
document location text
loc.01019 #q02 descend from the tips of his fingers, from the smell of his body, from the vapor of his lungs,
loc.05705 #ab02 from the breaths of his lungs
#ab03 from the sparkle of his eyes,
#ab04 from the odor of his body

983
Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask . . . . lie over,
984
You light surfaces only . . . . I force the surfaces and the depths also.

985
Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands,
986
Say old topknot! what do you want?
document location text
nyp.00085 #l03 What do you want from us

987
Man or woman! I might tell how I like you, but cannot,
988
And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot,
989
And might tell the pinings I have . . . . the pulse of my nights and days.

990
Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity,
991
What I give I give out of myself.

992
You there, impotent, loose in the knees, open your scarfed chops till I blow grit
                   
within you,
document location text
loc.00141 #l46 Starved of his masculine lustiness?
#l47 Weakened, Without core Loose in the knees, without core? and [illegible] grit and and grit?
#l48 And That I will infuse you with ^ grit and jets of new grit life
uva.00263 #l01 You there! impotent, loose [in?] the knees!
#l02 Open your mouth gums my pardy, that I put send ^ blow grit in you with one a [breath?];
993
Spread your palms and lift the flaps of your pockets,
document location text
uva.00263 #l03 Spread your palms, and move ^ lift the flaps of your pockets;
994
I am not to be denied . . . . I compel . . . . I have stores plenty and to spare,
document location text
loc.00141 #l49 I will am not to be denied—I compel;
#l50 * I have stores plenty and to spare
uva.00263 #l04 I am not to be denied—I compel;
#l05 I have stores plenty, and to spare;
995
And any thing I have I bestow.
document location text
loc.00141 #l51 And ^ of whatsoever I have I share bestow fully with upon you.
uva.00263 #l06 And whatsoever any thing I have I bestow.—



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 45

996
I do not ask who you are . . . . that is not important to me,
document location text
loc.00141 #l04 * It is quite indifferent to me who you are are.
uva.00263 #l07 I do not ask who you are—that is not important to me;
997
You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you.
document location text
uva.00263 #l08 You can do nothing, and be nothing, but what I will infold you;

998
To a drudge of the cottonfields or emptier of privies I lean . . . . on his right cheek
                   
I put the family kiss,
document location text
loc.00024 #rf01 Where others see some a dolt, a clown, in rags ^ slave a pariah an emptier of privies.... the Poet beholds what shall one day be, when the days of the soul are accomplished ^ shall be be a mate for the greatest gods the peer of god.
#rf02 Where others are scornfully silent at some one steerage passenger from a foreign land, or black ^ or emptier of privies the poet says, "Good day, mMy brother! good day!"
999
And in my soul I swear I never will deny him.

1000
On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
loc.00142 #p01 From each word, as from a womb, spring twenty babes that shall grow ^ to giants and beget a larger and more surperber breeds upon the earth.
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
1001
This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.
document location text
loc.00142 #p01 From each word, as from a womb, spring twenty babes that shall grow ^ to giants and beget a larger and more surperber breeds upon the earth.

1002
To any one dying . . . . thither I speed and twist the knob of the door,
document location text
loc.00141 #l203 Swiftly pass I
#l09 Where is the house of any one dying?
#l10 Thither I speed and raise turn the knob of the door,
uva.00278 #l02 Remember if you are dying, that you are dying, . . . is it so, then?
1003
Turn the bedclothes toward the foot of the bed,
1004
Let the physician and the priest go home.
document location text
loc.00141 #l11 Let Let And tThe physician and the priest stand aside, ^ timidly withdraw,
uva.00278 #l03 If it be so, I bring no shuffling consolation of doctors and priests,

1005
I seize the descending man . . . . I raise him with resistless will.
document location text
loc.00141 #l12 ^ That I seize on the despairer ghastly man and raise him with resistless will;

1006
O despairer, here is my neck,
document location text
loc.00141 #l13 O ghastly man despairer! you shall I say ^ tell you, you shall not die go down,
#l14 Here is my hand arm, sink press your whole weight upon me,
1007
By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me.
document location text
loc.00141 #l13 O ghastly man despairer! you shall I say ^ tell you, you shall not die go down,
#l14 Here is my hand arm, sink press your whole weight upon me,

1008
I dilate you with tremendous breath . . . . I buoy you up;
document location text
loc.00141 #l15 In my O Lo! with With tremendous will breath, I force him to dilate,
#l27 Buoyed with tremendous breath shall you be, and dilated
#l28 I [illegible] dilate you with tremendous breath, [—?]
#l29 I buoy you up,
1009
Every room of the house do I fill with am armed force . . . . lovers of me, bafflers
                   
of graves:
document location text
loc.00141 #l17 Baffling doubt and
#l24 Every room of the your house will do I fill with armed men
#l25 Lovers of me, [illegible] bafflers of hell,
#l30 Every room of your house do I fill with armed men
#l31 Lovers of me, bafflers of hell,
1010
Sleep! I and they keep guard all night;
document location text
loc.00141 #l19 Sleep! for I and they stand guard this night,
#l26 Keeping back
#l32 Sleep! for I and they staynd guard all this night
1011
Not doubt, not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you,
document location text
loc.00141 #l16 Doubt and fear
#l17 Baffling doubt and
#l18 Doubt shall not
#l21 Not doubt not fear not death itself shall lay fingers on [illegible] man him I lay finger [on?] you whomsoever I
#l33 Not doubt, not fear, not Death shall lay finger upon you
1012
I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself,
document location text
loc.00141 #l22 For I have [illegible] said the word and And you are mine
#l23 And I [illegible] have him all to myself
#l34 God and I have ^ embraced you, and henceforth possess you all to ourmyselves,
1013
And when you rise in the morning you will find what I tell you is so.
document location text
loc.00141 #l20 And when you rise in the morning you find that I told the what I told you is so.
#l35 And when you rise in the morning you shall find it is so.—

1014
I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on their backs,
1015
And for strong upright men I bring yet more needed help.

1016
I heard what was said of the universe,
1017
Heard it and heard of several thousand years;
1018
It is middling well as far as it goes . . . . but is that all?
document location text
duk.00051 #l03 But Do you stop there?
#l05 Can you I live in no such infinitessimal meanness as that?

1019
Magnifying and applying come I,
document location text
duk.00051 #l05 Can you I live in no such infinitessimal meanness as that?
1020
Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters,
document location text
duk.00051 #l07 I disdain and denounce your shallow
#l08 I ^ outbid you, shallow hucksters!
1021
The most they offer for mankind and eternity less than a spirt of my own seminal
                   
wet,
document location text
duk.00051 #l10 All you have ever pile up said and done compiled composed is are not august enough to dent endow answer tally a leaf of grass the partition of in my nostrils; nose;
loc.01019 #seg04 Forever and forever ^ the one of them, and and that Jesus knew, saw, is the immortal testifier of Love the semen whence comes ^comes is born of the entire Universe., ^ the one showing If shows itself in ^ and cause of this that vast elemental sympathy, which, of all we yet know, only the human soul is capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods, best visible shown to the world through a superbly transparent and perfect nature, a sweet and clean body in which was is no guile, or any thing selfish or [unseemly?] occult or mean.—
1022
Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah and laying them away,
document location text
duk.00051 #l12 ^ I tell you All ^ that your caste have said ever said about Go narrated said and about ^ Belus Haephestos God ^ Osiris and [illegible] Belus and Jehovah is a ^ too shallow description fonr one man's soul;
loc.01019 #seg09 things more incredible than the any myths of Jah, or Brahma, or Osiris,
1023
Lithographing Kronos and Zeus his son, and Hercules his grandson,
document location text
duk.00051 #l14 [cut away] [illegible] three thousand years ago [illegible] for Kronos or Zeus his son or Hercules his grandson.
loc.01019 #seg10 no power of Kronos, or Zeus his son or Hercules his grandson, begins with such a power as this.—
1024
Buying drafts of Osiris and Isis and Belus and Brahma and Adonai,
document location text
duk.00051 #l12 ^ I tell you All ^ that your caste have said ever said about Go narrated said and about ^ Belus Haephestos God ^ Osiris and [illegible] Belus and Jehovah is a ^ too shallow description fonr one man's soul;
loc.00483 #seg101 What has been called Religion ^ that of Ethiopia or still backward—^ that of ^ Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits ^ that of Mahomet or Budda ^ Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
loc.01019 #seg09 things more incredible than the any myths of Jah, or Brahma, or Osiris,
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1025
In my portfolio placing Manito loose, and Allah on a leaf, and the crucifix engraved,
document location text
loc.00483 #seg101 What has been called Religion ^ that of Ethiopia or still backward—^ that of ^ Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits ^ that of Mahomet or Budda ^ Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1026
With Odin, and the hideous-faced Mexitli, and all idols and images,
1027
Honestly taking them all for what they are worth, and not a cent more,
document location text
duk.00051 #l06 Do you Would you bribe God the Lord ^ Adonais with same stray change?
loc.00483 #seg102 We I know they are ^ intrinsically little or nothing, though nations and ages have writhed for ^ most of them in life and in death.—We I know they do not satisfy the appetite of the soul, with all their churches and their libraries and their priesthood.—
1028
View side-by-side images (new window)
Admitting Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) DU_02 DU_03 UI_01 UNCCH_01 UNL_01 UTA_05 UTA_06 UVa_06
Admitting Note: In these copies characters in the word "Admitting" fall below the line of text. Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_04 DU_01 DU_04 LC_01 NYPL_01 PC_03 UNCCH_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_09
they were alive and did the work of their day,
document location text
loc.00483 #seg101 What has been called Religion ^ that of Ethiopia or still backward—^ that of ^ Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits ^ that of Mahomet or Budda ^ Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
#ab200 Nevertheless let us treat them with decent forbearance. Mean as they are when we have ascended beyond them, and look back, they were ^ doubtless the roads for their times, .—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



46 Leaves of Grass.

1029
Admitting they bore mites as for unfledged birds who have now to rise and fly and
                   
sing for themselves,
document location text
loc.00483 #ab201 and Let us not despise too quickly despise them;—for they have brought sufficed to bring us where we are.—
#ab202 Like scaffolding which is a blur and nuisance when the house is well up—yet the house could not be achieved without the scaffold.—
1030
Accepting the rough deific sketches to fill out better in myself . . . . bestowing them
                   
freely on each man and woman I see,
document location text
loc.00483 #ab202 Like scaffolding which is a blur and nuisance when the house is well up—yet the house could not be achieved without the scaffold.—
1031
Discovering as much or more in a framer framing a house,
document location text
duk.00051 #l13 I see ^ claim these for that fr one of those framers ^ over the way, framing the a house.— in that each man more the young man, ^ there with rolled up shirt-sleeves and sweat on his divine superb face, more than your craft
1032
Putting higher claims for him there with his rolled-up sleeves, driving the mallet and
                   
chisel;
document location text
duk.00051 #l13 I see ^ claim these for that fr one of those framers ^ over the way, framing the a house.— in that each man more the young man, ^ there with rolled up shirt-sleeves and sweat on his divine superb face, more than your craft
1033
Not objecting to special revelations . . . . considering a curl of smoke or a hair on
                   
the back of my hand as curious as any revelation;
document location text
duk.00051 #l02 But I know say that any each leaf of grass and every each hair of my breast and beard is ^ also equally also a a more developed revelation of God just as divine
duk.00261 #l05 [cut away] all of them and all existing creeds grows not so much of God as I grow in my moustache,
1034
Those ahold of fire-engines and hook-and-ladder ropes more to me than the gods of
                   
the antique wars,
document location text
loc.01019 #seg07 Noro god nor demigod of the antique—
1035
Minding their voices peal through the crash of destruction,
1036
Their brawny limbs passing safe over charred laths . . . . their white foreheads whole
                   
and unhurt out of the flames;
1037
By the mechanic's wife with her babe at her nipple interceding for every person
                   
born;
1038
Three scythes at harvest whizzing in a row from three lusty angels with shirts
                   
bagged out at their waists;
1039
The snag-toothed hostler with red hair redeeming sins past and to come,
1040
Selling all he possesses and traveling on foot to fee lawyers for his brother and sit
                   
by him while he is tried for forgery:
document location text
duk.00261 #ab01 [foot to fee lawyers for his brother and sit by him while he was tried for forgery]
1041
What was strewn in the amplest strewing the square rod about me, and not filling
                   
the square rod then;
1042
The bull and the bug never worshipped half enough,
1043
Dung and dirt more admirable than was dreamed,
1044
The supernatural of no account . . . . myself waiting my time to be one of the
                   
supremes,
document location text
duk.00261 #l01 And I am myself waiting my time to be a God;
uva.00262 #l01 Who knows that I shall not myself [cut away] time be a God, as pure and prodigious as any?
1045
The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the best, and be as
                   
prodigious,
document location text
duk.00261 #l02 And I think I [h?] shall ^ do as much good and be as pure and prodigious, and do as much good as any;
uva.00262 #l01 Who knows that I shall not myself [cut away] time be a God, as pure and prodigious as any?
#l02 And when I am I you may be sure I shall do as much good as any.
1046
Guessing when I am it will not tickle me much to receive puffs out of pulpit or
                   
print;
document location text
duk.00261 #l03 And when my do, I am, do you suppose it will please me to receive puffs from pulpits or print?
1047
By my life-lumps! becoming already a creator!
1048
Putting myself here and now to the ambushed womb of the shadows!

1049
 . . . . A call in the midst of the crowd,
1050
My own voice, orotund sweeping and final.

1051
Come my children,
1052
Come my boys and girls, and my women and household and intimates,
1053
Now the performer launches his nerve . . . . he has passed his prelude on the reeds
                   
within.

1054
Easily written loosefingered chords! I feel the thrum of their climax and close.

1055
My head evolves on my neck,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 47

1056
Music rolls, but not from the organ . . . . folks are around me, but they are no
                   
household of mine.

1057
Ever the hard and unsunk ground,
1058
Ever the eaters and drinkers . . . . ever the upward and downward sun . . . . ever the
                   
air and the ceaseless tides,
document location text
duk.00296 #seg02 the real sun, burning and dazzling—the old, forever yyoung and solid earth—
1059
Ever myself and my neighbors, refreshing and wicked and real,
document location text
duk.00296 #seg03 real men ^ and women refreshing, strong ^ hearty, and wicked.—
1060
Ever the old inexplicable query . . . . ever that thorned thumb—that breath of itches
                   
and thirsts,
1061
Ever the vexer's hoot! hoot! till we find where the sly one hides and bring him
                   
forth;
document location text
uva.00264 #l01 And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!
1062
Ever love . . . . ever the sobbing liquid of life,
1063
Ever the bandage under the chin . . . . ever the tressels of death.

1064
Here and there with dimes on the eyes walking,
document location text
uva.00258 #l05 They shall not hide themselves ^ lie at peace even in their graves tombs with pennies on their eyes
1065
To feed the greed of the belly the brains liberally spooning,
document location text
duk.00800 #p02 It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which ^ that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated ^ and pious, classes, under the prefer certain ^ political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.— ^ These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse ^ shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.— [I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
loc.00141 #tr03 (3 every bite, I put between them, and if I my my belly is the victor, it that will not cannot then so ^ even then be foiled, but follows the crust innocent food down my throat my throat and is like ^ makes it ^ turns it to fire and lead within me?—What ^ angry [man?] snake that hisses whistles softly hisses at my ear, as saying, deny your greed and this night your soul shall O fool will you stuff your greed and starve your soul?
#ab01 (And what is ^ it but my [earl?] soul that hisses like an angry snake, O fFool! will you stuff your greed and starve me?
loc.05589 #ab30 such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible] ^ was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws ^ [illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither ^ under his hand and ^ [lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics ^ presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
med.00903 #ab01 I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031 #l04 I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes ^ exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
#l05 I see yet gaze on hear the greedy hog,; as he roots and snorts ^ as he roots anin the costly delicate green house.—
#l19 And Thus the Have you heard [illegible] the gurgle the of gluttons, ready to stuff them continually perfectly willing to stuff themselves;
1066
Tickets buying or taking or selling, but in to the feast never once going;
document location text
loc.00141 #ab10 The ignorant think that to the entertainment of life, you are they will be admitted by a ticket or check, and the air of dream of their existence is to get the money that they may buy this env wonderful card.—But the wise soul
1067
Many sweating and ploughing and thrashing, and then the chaff for payment re-
                   
ceiving,
1068
A few idly owning, and they the wheat continually claiming.

1069
This is the city . . . . and I am one of the citizens;
1070
View side-by-side images (new window)
Whatever interests the rest interests me . . . . politics, churches, newspapers, Note: In these copies, this line has wider spacing. For a clearer comparison, see the overlay image. Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 LC_07 LC_08 LC_11 UI_01 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_05 UVa_10
Whatever interests the rest interests me . . . . politics, churches, newspapers, Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 DU_01 DU_02 DU_03 DU_04 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_09 LC_10 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 NYPL_01 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 PA_01 PC_03 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNL_01 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09

                   
schools,
1071
Benevolent societies, improvements, banks, tariffs, steamships, factories, markets,
1072
Stocks and stores and real estate and personal estate.

1073
They who piddle and patter here in collars and tailed coats . . . . I am aware who
                   
they are . . . . and that they are not worms or fleas,
1074
I acknowledge the duplicates of myself under all the scrape-lipped and pipe-legged
                   
concealments.

1075
The weakest and shallowest is deathless with me,
1076
What I do and say the same waits for them,
1077
Every thought that flounders in me the same flounders in them.

1078
I know perfectly well my own egotism,
1079
And know my omniverous words, and cannot say any less,
1080
And would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself.

1081
My words are words of a questioning, and to indicate reality;
1082
This printed and bound book . . . . but the printer and the printing-office boy?
1083
The marriage estate and settlement . . . . but the body and mind of the bridegroom?
                   
also those of the bride?
1084
The panorama of the sea . . . . but the sea itself?
document location text
amh.00008 #seg01 to enjoy the Panorama of the Sea, painted done by the best artists, recommended by certificates from clergymen; admission half a dollar front seats twelve and a half cents extra. Go [then,?] and [luck?] go with [you?].—So we turn our backs on the frivolous glimpse [where thither?] ^ of the Highlands below there where old Neversink [the?] [illegible] lying sprawled ^ that lie sprawling like a great fish, with Neversink at the head.—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



48 Leaves of Grass.

1085
The well-taken photographs . . . . but your wife or friend close and solid in your
                   
arms?
1086
The fleet of ships of the line and all the modern improvements . . . . but the craft
                   
and pluck of the admiral?
1087
The dishes and fare and furniture . . . . but the host and hostess, and the look out of
                   
their eyes?
1088
The sky up there . . . . yet here or next door or across the way?
1089
The saints and sages in history . . . . but you yourself?
1090
Sermons and creeds and theology . . . . but the human brain, and what is called
                   
reason, and what is called love, and what is called life?
document location text
duk.00261 #l05 [cut away] all of them and all existing creeds grows not so much of God as I grow in my moustache,
loc.05589 #p04 The test of the goodness or truth of any thing is the soul itself—whatever does good to the soul, soothes, refreshes, cheers, inspirits, consoles, &c.—that is so, easy enough—But doctrines, sermons, logic ? ?

1091
I do not despise you priests;
document location text
loc.00483 #ab201 and Let us not despise too quickly despise them;—for they have brought sufficed to bring us where we are.—
1092
My faith is the greatest of faiths and the least of faiths,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1093
Enclosing all worship ancient and modern, and all between ancient and modern,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1094
Believing I shall come again upon the earth after five thousand years,
1095
Waiting responses from oracles . . . . honoring the gods  . . . . saluting the sun,
1096
Making a fetish of the first rock or stump . . . . powowing with sticks in the circle of
                   
obis,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1097
Helping the lama or brahmin as he trims the lamps of the idols,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1098
Dancing yet through the streets in a phallic procession . . . . rapt and austere in the
                   
woods, a gymnosophist,
document location text
loc.00158 #ab111 Phallic festivals.—wild mirthful processions in honor of the god Dionysus (Bacchus)—in Athens, and other parts of Greece—unbounded license—mocking jibes and irony—epithets and biting insults
1099
Drinking mead from the skull-cup . . . . to shasta and vedas admirant . . . . minding
                   
the koran,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1100
Walking the teokallis, spotted with gore from the stone and knife—beating the
                   
serpent-skin drum;
1101
Accepting the gospels, accepting him that was crucified, knowing assuredly that he
                   
is divine,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1102
To the mass kneeling—to the puritan's prayer rising—sitting patiently in a pew,
1103
Ranting and frothing in my insane crisis—waiting dead-like till my spirit arouses me;
1104
Looking forth on pavement and land, and outside of pavement and land,
1105
Belonging to the winders of the circuit of circuits.

1106
One of that centripetal and centrifugal gang,
1107
I turn and talk like a man leaving charges before a journey.

1108
Down-hearted doubters, dull and excluded,
1109
Frivolous sullen moping angry affected disheartened atheistical,
1110
I know every one of you, and know the unspoken interrogatories,
1111
By experience I know them.

1112
How the flukes splash!
document location text
loc.00141 #p03 —he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.00483 #hp01 Beware the flukes of the whale. ^ He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.—
1113
How they contort rapid as lightning, with spasms and spouts of blood!
document location text
loc.00483 #ab101 tThat black and huge lethargic mass, my sportsmen, dull and sleepy as it seems, has holds the lightning and the taps bolts of thunder.—He is slow—O, long and long and slow and slow—but when he does move, his lightest touch is death.
#hp02 The flukes of a whale they are as quick as light

1114
Be at peace bloody flukes of doubters and sullen mopers,
1115
I take my place among you as much as among any;
document location text
loc.00158 #l100 I have my place among you
nyp.00057 #p01 The most perfect wonders of the earth are not [I?] rare and distant but present with every [illegible] person,—you as much as any!—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 49

1116
The past is the push of you and me and all precisely the same,
1117
And the
View side-by-side images (new window)
day and night are Note: Whitman probably stopped the press to reset this line. Gary Schmidgall, who first noticed this variant, has speculated that Whitman was perhaps motivated by an urge toward "respectability," tempering the subversive poet of the night by adding a reference to day ("1855: A Stop-Press Revision," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 18 [Summer 2000], 74–75). But Ed Folsom has noted that the revision may have had more to do with Whitman's desire to balance day and night throughout the book, or that Whitman may simply have disliked the indentation caused by a short line between two long ones ("What We're Still Learning about the 1855 Leaves of Grass 150 Years Later," Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays, ed. Susan Belasco, Ed Folsom, and Kenneth M. Price [Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007], 19–20). Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) AAS_01 AC_01 AC_02 BC_01 BGSU_01 BPL_02 BU_01 BaU_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 CAI_01 CC_01 CMU_01 CPL_01 CWRU_01 CoU_01 CoU_03 DC_01 DU_01 DU_02 DU_04 EU_01 GC_01 GeC_01 HL_03 HSP_01 HU_02 HU_03 HU_04 HU_05 HU_06 JHU_01 KB_01 KSU_01 LCP_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_13 LC_14 LMU_01 LU_01 LU_03 MC_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NLS_01 NL_01 NSU_01 NU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_02 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 NYPL_08 NYPL_09 NYPL_10 NYPL_11 NYPL_12 OSU_01 OWU_02 PA_01 PC_07 PC_08 PC_09 PC_11 PC_12 PC_17 PC_19 PML_01 PML_02 PML_04 PSU_01 PU_01 PU_02 RC_01 SUNYBi_01 SUNYBu_01 TAMU_01 TCU_01 TPL_01 UCLA_01 UCLA_02 UC_02 UD_01 UD_02 UI_01 UKy_01 UMn_01 UNCCH_02 UNCC_01 UP_01 UP_02 UP_03 URI_01 USC_02 UTA_01 UTA_03 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UnC_01 WC_01 WC_02 WC_03 WC_04 WC_05 WFU_02 WUSL_01 WWH_01 YU_01 YU_03 YU_04 YU_06
for you and me and all,
1118
And what is yet untried and afterward is for you and me and all.

1119
I do not know what is untried and afterward,
1120
But I know it is sure and alive and sufficient.

1121
Each who passes is considered, and each who stops is considered, and not a single
                   
one can it fail.

1122
It cannot fail the young man who died and was buried,
1123
Nor the young woman who died and was put by his side,
1124
Nor the little child that peeped in at the door and then drew back and was never
                   
seen again,
1125
Nor the old man who has lived without purpose, and feels it with bitterness worse
                   
than gall,
1126
Nor him in the poorhouse tubercled by rum and the bad disorder,
1127
Nor the numberless slaughtered and wrecked . . . . nor the brutish koboo, called the
                   
ordure of humanity,
document location text
nyp.00112 #ab01 Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a ^ his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in
1128
Nor the sacs merely floating with open mouths for food to slip in,
1129
Nor any thing in the earth, or down in the oldest graves of the earth,
1130
Nor any thing in the myriads of spheres, nor one of the myriads of myriads that in-
                   
habit them,
1131
Nor the present, nor the least wisp that is known.

1132
It is time to explain myself . . . . let us stand up.
document location text
duk.00026 #l02 If there be one left in any country who has no faith in me, I will travel to that country, and go to that one, and stand upright before him,—

1133
What is known I strip away . . . . I launch all men and women forward with me into
                   
the unknown.
document location text
duk.00026 #l01 I am not content now with a mere majority . . . . I must have the love of all men and all women,

1134
The clock indicates the moment . . . . but what does eternity indicate?
document location text
duk.00298 #seg01 Remember that the clock and the hands of the clock, only tell the time—they are not themselves the aggregated years.—Time Which is greatest—time, which baffles us, or its indexes, made [by?] of wood and brass, at by ^ a workman at ten dollars a week?—Time itself knows no index—it is merely for to stand us a little in help that ^ we combine sets of springs and wheels [are?] and arbitrarily divide ^ it by hours and quarters—and call these miserable theseis measurersing of time.—

1135
Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs . . . . its buckets are rising forever and ever,
1136
They pour and they pour and they exhale away.

1137
We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers;
1138
There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.

1139
Births have brought us richness and variety,
1140
And other births will bring us richness and variety.

1141
I do not call one greater and one smaller,
1142
That which fills its period and place is equal to any.

1143
Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you my brother or my sister?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



50 Leaves of Grass.

1144
I am sorry for you . . . . they are not murderous or jealous upon me;
1145
All has been gentle with me . . . . . . I keep no account with lamentation;
1146
What have I to do with lamentation?

1147
I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be.
document location text
uva.00269 #l04 I surround retrace things steps oceanic—I pass to around not merely my own kind, but all the objects I see.—

1148
My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs,
document location text
uva.00269 #l02 I descend [many?] steps—I go backward primeval
#l03 My equanimous arms feet
1149
On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches between the steps,
document location text
uva.00269 #l04 I surround retrace things steps oceanic—I pass to around not merely my own kind, but all the objects I see.—
1150
All below duly traveled—and still I mount and mount.

1151
Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,
1152
Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, the vapor from the nostrils of death,
document location text
duk.00262 #l01 And brings me perpetual word that Goodness is the Dilation or Pride is a Mother father of Causes,
#l02 And that the a Father mother of Causes is Love Dilation or Pride. Goodness or Love.—
#l11 And ^ that the such these they are the Parents ^ yet, and witness and register their breed amours eternally;
loc.00346 #ab04 We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—
nyp.00129 #p02 Love is the cause of causes.—W Out of the first Nothing and —out of the ^ black fogs of primeval of the nostrils Or original Vacuity, of Death which that vast and sluggish ^ hung ebbless and floodless in the spread of space—it asked ^ of God with undeniable will, something to satisfy ^ itself its itself.— immortal longings.— From its By it then Chaos was staid with.— Like aA family Like a brood of beautiful children came from them ^ whom we call the Laws of Nature.—
#l100 Love is the cause of causes,
#l01 Out of the vast, first Nothing
#l02 The ebbless and floodless vapor from the nostrils of Death,
#l101 It asked of God with unde-niable will,
#l102 Something to satisfy itself.—
#l103 By it then Chaos was staid with
#l104 And duly came from them a brood of beautiful children
#l105 Whom we call the laws of nature
1153
I know I was even there . . . . I waited unseen and always,
1154
And slept while God carried me through the lethargic mist,
document location text
duk.00262 #l03 My Soul Spirit was [curious?] and sped back to the beginning, sped back returned to the times when the earth was forming mist, the aft
#l10 And peered beyond aft, and could see Concord beyond the beginning; forming the mist,
1155
And took my time . . . . and took no hurt from the fœtid carbon.

1156
Long I was hugged close . . . . long and
View side-by-side images (new window)
long Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_01 LC_03 LC_05 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 UI_01
long Note: In these copies the "g" in the second "long" is printed slightly higher than the rest of the word. Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_02 LC_04 LC_06 LC_13
.

1157
Immense have been the preparations for me,
1158
Faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me.

1159
Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen;
1160
For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings,
1161
They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.

1162
Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,
document location text
loc.00346 #q05 I exist in the formless void that through asks for takes uncounted ages forms time and coheres to a nebula ?, and in further ages time coheresing to an orb,
1163
My embryo has never been torpid . . . . nothing could overlay it;
1164
For it the nebula cohered to an orb . . . . the long slow strata piled to rest it on
                   
 . . . . vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab6 A poem in which all things and qualities and processes express themselves—the nebula—the fixed stars—the earth—the grass, waters, vegetable, sauroid, and all processes—man—animals.
loc.00346 #q05 I exist in the formless void that through asks for takes uncounted ages forms time and coheres to a nebula ?, and in further ages time coheresing to an orb,
1165
Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care.
document location text
loc.00005 #ab6 A poem in which all things and qualities and processes express themselves—the nebula—the fixed stars—the earth—the grass, waters, vegetable, sauroid, and all processes—man—animals.

1166
All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me,
1167
Now I stand on this spot with my soul.

1168
Span of youth! Ever-pushed elasticity! Manhood balanced and florid and full!

1169
My lovers suffocate me!
1170
Crowding my lips, and thick in the pores of my skin,
document location text
loc.00141 #l200 Sometimes tTo my lips, and and to the palms of my hands, and whatever my hands hold.
1171
Jostling me through streets and public halls . . . . coming naked to me at night,
1172
Crying by day Ahoy from the rocks of the river . . . . swinging and chirping over my
                   
head,
1173
Calling my name from flowerbeds or vines or tangled underbrush,
1174
Or while I swim in the bath . . . . or drink from the pump at the corner . . . . or the
                   
curtain is down at the opera . . . . or I glimpse at a woman's face in the
                   
railroad car;
document location text
loc.00025 #nde06 ^ While the curtain is down at the opera ^ while I swim in the bath while I wait for my friend at the corner, while I [illegible] swim in the bath,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 51

1175
Lighting on every moment of my life,
1176
Bussing my body with soft and balsamic busses,
1177
Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine.

1178
Old age superbly rising! Ineffable grace of dying days!

1179
Every condition promulges not only itself . . . . it promulges what grows after and out
                   
of itself,
1180
And the dark hush promulges as much as any.

1181
I open my scuttle at night and see the far-sprinkled systems,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw33 And saw millions ^ the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
loc.00142 #tr06 All the ^ computation vastness of Astronomy—and space—systems of suns+++ [illegible] carried [illegible] in to ^ their computation to the very bound farthest that figures will are able or that the broadest ? mathematical faculty can hold—and then multiplied in geometrical progression ten thousand million fold back
1182
And all I see, multiplied as high as I can cipher, edge but the rim of the farther
                   
systems.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw33 And saw millions ^ the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
loc.00142 #tr06 All the ^ computation vastness of Astronomy—and space—systems of suns+++ [illegible] carried [illegible] in to ^ their computation to the very bound farthest that figures will are able or that the broadest ? mathematical faculty can hold—and then multiplied in geometrical progression ten thousand million fold back
tex.00088 #seg101 At the huge facts ^ of countless systems of worlds, whose of suns and their planets of worlds revolving round their suns—
#seg08 Cipher it by any rule we will, and then rub all out and work the problem over again, and again, till our eyes blur, we [each?] get but one ^ unvarying product, that the ^ Human Soul, you yourself by its innate tests, is the must be the judge and standard of all things, even of the knowledge of God.—

1183
Wider and wider they spread, expanding and always expanding,
document location text
duk.00104 #seg02 [illegible]—that this earth is under a constant and [process?] of amelioration—as it always has been—that it, in some manner not perhaps demonstratable in astronomy, expands outward and outward in a larger and larger orbit—that our immortality is located here upon earth—that we are immortal—that the processes of the refinement and perfection of the earth are in steps, [It?] the least part of which involves trillions of years—
loc.00163 #q10 Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward
1184
Outward and outward and forever outward.
document location text
duk.00104 #seg02 [illegible]—that this earth is under a constant and [process?] of amelioration—as it always has been—that it, in some manner not perhaps demonstratable in astronomy, expands outward and outward in a larger and larger orbit—that our immortality is located here upon earth—that we are immortal—that the processes of the refinement and perfection of the earth are in steps, [It?] the least part of which involves trillions of years—
loc.00163 #q10 Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward

1185
My sun has his sun, and round him obediently wheels,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw33 And saw millions ^ the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
1186
He joins with his partners a group of superior circuit,
1187
And greater sets follow, making specks of the greatest inside them.

1188
There is no stoppage, and never can be stoppage;
document location text
loc.00346 #q11 I could be balked no how, not if all the worlds and living beings in were ^ this [hour?] ^ minute reduced turned back into the fog ^ impalpable film of chaos
1189
If I and you and the worlds and all beneath or upon their surfaces, and all the
                   
palpable life, were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would not
                   
avail in the long run,
document location text
loc.00346 #q11 I could be balked no how, not if all the worlds and living beings in were ^ this [hour?] ^ minute reduced turned back into the fog ^ impalpable film of chaos
1190
We should surely bring up again where we now stand,
document location text
loc.00346 #q11b I should surely bring up again where we now stand, and go on as much further and still thence on and on
1191
And as surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther.
document location text
loc.00346 #q11b I should surely bring up again where we now stand, and go on as much further and still thence on and on

1192
A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span,
                   
or make it impatient,
document location text
loc.00346 #q11c I think a few [n?] my right hand is time, and my left hand is space—both are ample—a few quintillions of cycles, a few sextillions of cubic leagues, are not of ^ special importance to me—I what I attain shall attain to I do not know can never tell, for there is something that underlies and overtops me, of whom I am an effusion a part an attribute and instrument.—
nyp.00063 #p01 Superb and infinitely manifold [t?] as natural the objects are,—not a so cubic solid each foot ^ out of the numberless countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space but has its positive [lo?] ho is being crammed full of positive absolute or direct relative wonders,—not any one of these, nor the whole of them together, disturbs or seems awry to the mind of man or woman.—
1193
They are but parts . . . . any thing is but a part.
document location text
loc.00346 #q11c I think a few [n?] my right hand is time, and my left hand is space—both are ample—a few quintillions of cycles, a few sextillions of cubic leagues, are not of ^ special importance to me—I what I attain shall attain to I do not know can never tell, for there is something that underlies and overtops me, of whom I am an effusion a part an attribute and instrument.—

1194
See ever so far . . . . there is limitless space outside of that,
document location text
loc.00346 #ab03 Of all the plenty in nature there is, no plenty is comparable to the plenty of time and space.—Of these there is ample store,—there is no limit
1195
Count ever so much . . . . there is limitless time around that.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab03 Of all the plenty in nature there is, no plenty is comparable to the plenty of time and space.—Of these there is ample store,—there is no limit

1196
Our rendezvous is fitly appointed . . . . God will be there and wait till we come.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab02 We Tthrob and wait, and lay your our ears to the wall as y as we may, we throb and wait ^ for the god in vain.—I am vast—he seems to console us with, ^ a whispering undertone in lack instead of an answer—and my works are what is wherever the universe is—but we are only the morning wakers to the soul of man.—the Soul of man! the Soul of man!—To that, we do the office of the servants who wakes histheir master at the dawn.

1197
I know I have the best of time and space—and that I was never measured, and
                   
never will be measured.
document location text
loc.00346 #ab03 Of all the plenty in nature there is, no plenty is comparable to the plenty of time and space.—Of these there is ample store,—there is no limit

1198
I tramp a perpetual journey,
1199
My signs are a rain-proof coat and good shoes and a staff cut from the woods;
1200
No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
1201
I have no chair, nor church nor philosophy;
document location text
loc.00141 #tw17 I will not be a great philosopher, and found any school, and [bring?] build it on with iron pillars, and gather the young me around me, and make them my disciples, and found a that a new ^ superior churches orand politics. ^ shall come.—☜—But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you ^ to the road ^ along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—
1202
I lead no man to a dinner-table or library or exchange,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw17 I will not be a great philosopher, and found any school, and [bring?] build it on with iron pillars, and gather the young me around me, and make them my disciples, and found a that a new ^ superior churches orand politics. ^ shall come.—☜—But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you ^ to the road ^ along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



52 Leaves of Grass.

1203
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw16 But I will take every each man on or and woman ^ man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
#seg01 But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you ^ to the road ^ along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.
1204
My left hand hooks you round the waist,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw16 But I will take every each man on or and woman ^ man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
#seg01 But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you ^ to the road ^ along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.
1205
My right hand points to landscapes of continents, and a plain public road.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw16 But I will take every each man on or and woman ^ man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
#seg01 But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you ^ to the road ^ along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.

1206
Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,
document location text
loc.00141 #seg02 Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—
1207
You must travel it for yourself.

1208
It is not far . . . . it is within reach,
document location text
loc.00141 #seg02 Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—
1209
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know,
document location text
loc.00141 #seg02 Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—
1210
Perhaps it is every where on water and on land.
document location text
loc.00141 #seg02 Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and ^ over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1211
Shoulder your duds, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth;
1212
Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.

1213
If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of your hand on my hip,
1214
And in due time you shall repay the same service to me;
1215
For after we start we never lie by again.

1216
This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven,
document location text
duk.00942 #l27 And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
#l29 And that when [once?] they soul ^ spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141 #tw14 I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—^ When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and ^ I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was ^ should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain [er?] to my ear me than at the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it ^ the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—
#tw201 And have sent my soul And went down to to take board reconnoitre there a long time,
#tw212 And my soul staid there flew thither to [st?] reconnoitre and squat, and looked long upon the universe out,
med.00909 #l02 Outside the asteroids I reconnoitre at my ease.
1217
And I said to my spirit, When we become the enfolders of those orbs and the plea-
                   
sure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?
document location text
duk.00262 #l13 Again But And yet still my Soul Spirit was curious and travelled ahead
#l14 And pierced the black stern fine hem of darkness life, death and went fearlessly through,
#l16 And said to me, It is well, I am satisfied,
duk.00942 #l27 And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
#l29 And that when [once?] they soul ^ spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141 #tw12 and I said to my soul When we become the god enfoldingers of all these ^ orbs, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them, or of them, shall we be filled and satisfied?
#tw14 I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—^ When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and ^ I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was ^ should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain [er?] to my ear me than at the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it ^ the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—
loc.00142 #seg100 Well the one obligation duty under which a man or woman ^ is bound to himself or herself, is the enfolder or of all else every bit that follows.—
1218
And my spirit said No, we level that lift to pass and continue beyond.
document location text
duk.00262 #l16 And said to me, It is well, I am satisfied,
duk.00942 #l27 And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
#l29 And that when [once?] they soul ^ spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141 #tw12b and the answer was
#tw12c No, when we fetch that height, we shall not be filled and satisfied, but shall look as high beyond.
#tw14 I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—^ When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and ^ I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was ^ should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain [er?] to my ear me than at the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it ^ the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—

1219
You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;
1220
I answer that I cannot answer . . . . you must find out for yourself.

1221
Sit awhile wayfarer,
document location text
rut.00025 #q01 sSit awhile, wayfarer.—
1222
Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
document location text
rut.00025 #q02 I give thee you apples ^ berries biscuits to eat and milk to drink;
1223
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes I will certainly kiss you
                   
with my goodbye kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.
document location text
rut.00025 #q03 but when ^ afterward thou hast you have [as?] [sla?] bathed thyself, and renewed thyself yourself in fresh clo sweet clothes, and staid here a little time, I shall surely kiss thee you on the cheek, and open the gate for [cut away] ^ your egress hence.

1224
Long enough have you dreamed contemptible dreams,
1225
Now I wash the gum from your eyes,
1226
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your
                   
life

1227
Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore,
document location text
loc.00024 #rf04 Hav You have timidly waded close to the shore, wading holding a board
1228
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
document location text
loc.00024 #rf05 Come with me, I [and?] that I learn teach you that you be a bold swimmer, and leap from the into the open ^ [plain sou?] unsounded sea, and come up, and laugh shout, and laughingly shake the water from your hair.—
1229
To jump off in the midst of the sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout, and
                   
laughingly dash with your hair.
document location text
loc.00024 #ab01a Without [illegible] waiting a moment the young child, laughing and clucking springs into the
#l01 And as a swimmer passed floated idly in the waves, he called the child.—Laughing it sprang, and there
#rf05 Come with me, I [and?] that I learn teach you that you be a bold swimmer, and leap from the into the open ^ [plain sou?] unsounded sea, and come up, and laugh shout, and laughingly shake the water from your hair.—

1230
I am the teacher of athletes,
1231
He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,
1232
He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 53

1233
The boy I love, the same becomes a man not through derived power but in his own
                   
right,
1234
Wicked, rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear,
1235
Fond of his sweetheart, relishing well his steak,
1236
Unrequited love or a slight cutting him worse than a wound cuts,
1237
First rate to ride, to fight, to hit the bull's eye, to sail a skiff, to sing a song or play
                   
on the banjo,
1238
Preferring scars and faces pitted with smallpox over all latherers and those that
                   
keep out of the sun.

1239
I teach straying from me, yet who can stray from me?
1240
I follow you whoever you are from the present hour;
1241
My words itch at your ears till you understand them.

1242
I do not say these things for a dollar, or to fill up the time while I wait for a boat;
1243
It is you talking just as much as myself . . . . I act as the tongue of you,
document location text
duk.00787 #l02 It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
#l09 I am the voice of another man
uva.00256 #l02 You You He could annot speak for himyourself, slave negro.—I lend you him my own mouth tongue
1244
It was tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened.
document location text
duk.00787 #l02 It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
#l04 I am loosen the voice tongue that was tied in you them
#l05 In me It begins to talk out of my mouth
uva.00256 #l03 A black I darted like a snake from his ^ [illegible] mouth.—

1245
I swear I will never mention love or death inside a house,
1246
And I swear I never will translate myself at all, only to him or her who privately
                   
stays with me in the open air.

1247
If you would understand me go to the heights or water-shore,
1248
The nearest gnat is an explanation and a drop or the motion of waves a key,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw32 I am I The Of the each [ab?] gnats in the air, and the every of beetles rolling ^ his balls ^ of dung,
1249
The maul the oar and the handsaw second my words.

1250
No shuttered room or school can commune with me,
1251
But roughs and little children better than they.

1252
The young mechanic is closest to me . . . . he knows me pretty well,
1253
The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him shall take me with him all day,
document location text
loc.05589 #l36 The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him shall take me with him all day,
1254
The farmboy ploughing in the field feels good at the sound of my voice,
1255
In vessels that sail my words must sail . . . . I go with fishermen and seamen, and
                   
love them,
1256
My face rubs to the hunter's face when he lies down alone in his blanket,
1257
The driver thinking of me does not mind the jolt of his wagon,
1258
The young mother and old mother shall comprehend me,
1259
The girl and the wife rest the needle a moment and forget where they are,
1260
They and all would resume what I have told them.

1261
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
document location text
duk.00787 #l07 And I say that the soul is not greater than the Body
1262
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
document location text
duk.00787 #l08 And I say that the Body is not greater than the Soul.
1263
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw05 I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to ^ think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before ^ me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
#ab03 If God himself ^ If I walk with Jah in ^ Heaven and he assume to be intrinsically greater than I, it offends me, and I will ^ shall certainly withdraw myself from Heaven,—for the great soul will prefers freedom in the lonesomest prairie to to or the woo untrodden woods—and there can be no freedom where
loc.00163 #q02 I say that nothing is every man he is great to himself and every woman to herself;
loc.00346 #q18 Not even God, that dread ? is so great to me as mMyself is great to me.—Who knows but I too shall in time be a God as pure and prodigious as any of them.—
1264
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral, dressed in
                   
his shroud,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



54 Leaves of Grass.

1265
And I or you pocketless of a dime may purchase the pick of the earth,
1266
And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all
                   
times,
1267
And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a
                   
hero,
document location text
nyp.00089 #l06 That butcher boy with is just as great a hero
1268
And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheeled universe,
1269
And any man or woman shall stand cool and supercilious before a million universes.

1270
And I call to mankind, Be not curious about God,
document location text
loc.00013 #l02 ^ Priests! Until you can explain a paving stone, ^ to every ones my perfect satisfaction O Priests, do not try to explain God:
tex.00088 #seg06 O, theologian, come not to argue with me about God;
1271
For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,
document location text
duk.00018 #l12 Of God I know not;
1272
No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.
document location text
duk.00018 #l02 No array, no form of symbol,

1273
I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw05 I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to ^ think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before ^ me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
1274
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
document location text
duk.00018 #l14 I can comprehend no being more wonderful than Man;
loc.00141 #tw05 I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to ^ think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before ^ me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
tex.00088 #seg07 I can yet ^ just begin to comprehend nothing more wonderful than so tremendous as my own soul.

1275
Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
1276
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
1277
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass;
document location text
duk.00018 #l05 Mostly this we have of God: we have Man.—
1278
I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name,
document location text
duk.00006 #l02 And every one is signed by His Name;
1279
And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come for-
                   
ever and ever.
document location text
duk.00006 #l03 And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come as long as I live,

1280
And as to you death, and you bitter hug of mortality . . . . it is idle to try to alarm
                   
me.

1281
To his work without flinching the accoucheur comes,
1282
I see the elderhand pressing receiving supporting,
1283
I recline by the sills of the exquisite flexible doors . . . . and mark the outlet, and
                   
mark the relief and escape.

1284
And as to you corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me,
document location text
uva.00601 #l02 I see the ^ O dirt dirt hearse-borne once beloved! [illegible] corpse—I see the I guess reckon [think?] [mind?] less you very are a good manure —but that I do not smell—
1285
I smell the white roses sweetscented and growing,
document location text
uva.00601 #l03 —I smell the your beautiful white roses—
1286
I reach to the leafy lips . . . . I reach to the polished breasts of melons.
document location text
duk.00883 #l01 Living bulbs, melons with polished rinds the hand soothinghe that the hand to touch smooth to the press reached hand
#l02 Bulbs of life-lilies, polished melons, [reach?] flavored for the gentlest mildest hand that shall reach,
uva.00601 #l04 I kiss their soft ^ your leafy lips—I reach slide my hands for the brown melons of your breasts.—

1287
And as to you life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
1288
No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.
document location text
uva.00133 #l01 I lean on my left elbow—I take ten thousand lovers, one after another, by my right hand.—

1289
I hear you whispering there O stars of heaven,
1290
O suns . . . . O grass of graves . . . . O perpetual transfers and promotions . . . . if
                   
you do not say anything how can I say anything?
document location text
duk.00018 #l06 Lo, the sun;

1291
Of the turbid pool that lies in the autumn forest,
document location text
duk.00018 #l08 Which of a night shines in some turbid pool,
1292
Of the moon that descends the steeps of the soughing twilight,
document location text
duk.00018 #l07 Ists glory floods the moon,
#l08 Which of a night shines in some turbid pool,
#l09 Shaken by soughing winds;
1293
Toss, sparkles of day and dusk . . . . toss on the black stems that decay in the muck,
document location text
duk.00018 #l10 And there are sparkles mad and tossed and broken,
1294
Toss to the moaning gibberish of the dry limbs.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 55

1295
I ascend from the moon . . . . I ascend from the night,
1296
And perceive of the ghastly glitter the sunbeams reflected,
document location text
duk.00018 #l11 And their archetype is the Sun.
1297
And debouch to the steady and central from the offspring great or small.

1298
There is that in me . . . . I do not know what it is . . . . but I know it is in me.

1299
Wrenched and sweaty . . . . calm and cool then my body becomes;
1300
I sleep . . . . I sleep long.

1301
I do not know it . . . . it is without name . . . . it is a word unsaid,
document location text
duk.00018 #l01 There is no word in any tongue,
1302
It is not in any dictionary or utterance or symbol.
document location text
duk.00018 #l02 No array, no form of symbol,

1303
Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,
1304
To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.

1305
Perhaps I might tell more . . . . Outlines! I plead for my brothers and sisters.

1306
Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
1307
It is not chaos or death . . . . it is form and union and plan . . . . it is eternal life . . . .
                   
it is happiness.

1308
The past and present wilt . . . . I have filled them and emptied them,
1309
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

1310
Listener up there! Here you . . . . what have you to confide to me?
1311
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
1312
Talk honestly, for no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.

1313
Do I contradict myself?
1314
Very well then . . . . I contradict myself;
1315
I am large . . . . I contain multitudes.

1316
I concentrate toward them that are nigh . . . . I wait on the door-slab.

1317
Who has done his day's work and will soonest be through with his supper?
1318
Who wishes to walk with me?

1319
Will you speak before I am gone? Will you prove already too late?
document location text
uva.00570 #l04 I feel apt to clip it, and go;

1320
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me . . . . he complains of my gab and my
                   
loitering.
document location text
uva.00570 #l01 The spotted ? hawk ? salutes the approaching night;
#l02 He [swoops?] by me, ^ and rebukes me hoarsely with his invitation;
#l03 He complains with sarcastic voice of my lagging

1321
I too am not a bit tamed . . . . I too am untranslatable,
document location text
uva.00570 #l06 I am but not not half tamed,—yet.—
1322
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

1323
The last scud of day holds back for me,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



56 Leaves of Grass.

1324
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadowed wilds,
1325
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

1326
I depart as air . . . . I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
1327
I effuse my flesh in eddies and drift it in lacy jags.

1328
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
1329
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.

1330
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
1331
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
1332
And filter and fibre your blood.

1333
Failing to fetch me me at first keep encouraged,
1334
Missing me one place search another,
1335
I stop some where waiting for
View side-by-side images (new window)
you Note: The apparent absence of this concluding period in many copies informed a number of early critical interpretations of the ending of the 1855 version of "Song of Myself." In 1986, Arthur Golden noted the existence of the period in later editions of Leaves of Grass and argued that the missing period was a typographical error, a position later confirmed by the discovery of copies that did include the period ("The Ending of the 1855 Version of 'Song of Myself,'" Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, 3.4 [Spring 1986], 27–30). Several copies have an ambiguous mark in the descender of the "u" that may be the misprinted period. Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) AAS_01 AC_01 AC_02 BC_01 BGSU_01 BL_01 BPL_01 BPL_02 BSU_01 BU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BoL_01 BrU_01 BrU_02 BrU_03 BrU_04 CAI_01 CC_01 CMU_01 CPL_01 CU_01 CWRU_01 CoU_01 CoU_02 CoU_03 DC_01 DU_01 DU_02 DU_03 DU_04 DrU_01 EU_01 GC_01 GeC_01 HL_01 HL_02 HL_03 HSP_01 HU_01 HU_02 HU_03 HU_04 HU_05 HU_06 JHU_01 KB_01 KSU_01 LCP_01 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 LMU_01 LU_01 LU_02 LU_03 MC_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NIU_02 NLS_01 NL_01 NSUG_01 NSU_01 NU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_02 NYPL_03 NYPL_04 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 NYPL_08 NYPL_09 NYPL_10 NYPL_11 NYPL_12 OSU_01 OWU_01 OWU_02 PAA_01 PA_01 PC_03 PC_08 PC_09 PC_11 PC_12 PC_13 PC_14 PC_16 PC_17 PC_18 PC_19 PML_01 PML_02 PML_03 PML_04 PSU_01 PU_01 PU_02 RC_01 SUNYBi_01 SUNYBu_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TCU_01 TPL_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCLA_01 UCLA_02 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_01 UD_02 UH_01 UI_01 UKy_01 UM_01 UMi_01 UMn_01 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNCC_01 UNL_01 UP_01 UP_02 UP_03 URI_01 UR_01 USC_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_01 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_07 UVa_08 UVa_09 UVa_10 UWM_01 UnC_01 VAM_01 WC_01 WC_02 WC_03 WC_04 WC_05 WFU_01 WFU_02 WUSL_01 WU_01 WWH_01 WWH_02 WeC_01 YU_01 YU_02 YU_03 YU_04 YU_05 YU_06
you. Image: Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library Open copies in bibliography (new window) HC_01 MC_01 PC_10 PC_15 PU_03 USC_01



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -




Leaves of Grass.



—————

1336
COME closer to me,
1337
Push close my lovers and take the best I possess,
1338
Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess.

1339
This is unfinished business with me . . . . how is it with you?
1340
I was chilled with the cold types and cylinder and wet paper between us.

1341
I pass so poorly with paper and types . . . . I must pass with the contact of bodies
                   
and souls.

1342
I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of me . . . . I know that
                   
it is good for you to do so.
document location text
loc.05589 #l10 Do you know what it is to have men and women crave the touch of your hand and the contact of you?

1343
Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would
                   
it amount to?
1344
Were I as the head teacher or charitable proprietor or wise statesman, what would
                   
it amount to?
1345
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?

1346
The learned and virtuous and benevolent, and the usual terms;
1347
A man like me, and never the usual terms.

1348
Neither a servant nor a master am I,
1349
I take no sooner a large price than a small price . . . . I will have my own whoever
                   
enjoys me,
document location text
duk.00264 #l03 I rate myself high—I receive no small sums;
#l04 I must have my full price—whoever enjoys me.
1350
I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.

1351
If you are a workman or workwoman I stand as nigh as the nighest that works in
                   
the same shop,
1352
If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend, I demand as good as your
                   
brother or dearest friend,
1353
If your lover or husband or wife is welcome by day or night, I must be personally as
                   
welcome;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



58 Leaves of Grass.

1354
If you have become degraded or ill, then I will become so for your sake;
1355
If you remember your foolish and outlawed deeds, do you think I cannot remember
                   
my foolish and outlawed deeds?
1356
If you carouse at the table I say I will carouse at the opposite side of the table;
1357
If you meet some stranger in the street and love him or her, do I not often meet
                   
strangers in the street and love them?
document location text
loc.05589 #l09 Do you it is to be loved as you pass in the street?
1358
If you see a good deal remarkable in me I see just as much remarkable in you.

1359
Why what have you thought of yourself?
1360
Is it you then that thought yourself less?
document location text
uva.00516 #seg02 The man who tends the President's horses, not one whit less a man than the President.—
#seg03 The healthy, fine-formed girl who tends waits upon the great wealthy lady, not less than the wealthy Lady.—
1361
Is it you that thought the President greater than you? or the rich better off than
                   
you? or the educated wiser than you?
document location text
uva.00516 #seg02 The man who tends the President's horses, not one whit less a man than the President.—
#seg03 The healthy, fine-formed girl who tends waits upon the great wealthy lady, not less than the wealthy Lady.—

1362
Because you are greasy or pimpled—or that you was once drunk, or a thief, or
                   
diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostitute—or are so now—or from frivolity or
                   
impotence—or that you are no scholar, and never saw your name in print . . . .
                   
do you give in that you are any less immortal?
document location text
uva.00263 #l09 If you be diseased, deformed, a thief, you need me the more.—
#l10 You thief! you diseased!—deformed!

1363
Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard, untouchable and
                   
untouching;
1364
It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether you are alive or
                   
no;
1365
I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns . . . . aud see and hear you, and
                   
what you give and take;
document location text
duk.00263 #l01 Now I see who you are . . if nobody else sees, nor you either,
1366
What is there you cannot give and take?

1367
I see not merely that you are polite or whitefaced . . . . married or single . . . .
                   
citizens of old states or citizens of new states . . . . eminent in some profession
                   
 . . . . a lady or gentleman in a parlor . . . . or dressed in the jail uniform . . . .
                   
or pulpit uniform,
document location text
duk.00263 #l02 I see not so much that you are the quality as of the President or Judge of the Supreme Court, or a millionaire that you are polite or whitefaced or a citizen of our of the an old states, or a citizen of a new state,
1368
Not only the free Utahan, Kansian, or Arkansian . . . . not only the free Cuban . . . 
                   
not merely the slave . . . . not Mexican native, or Flatfoot, or negro from
                   
Africa,
document location text
duk.00263 #l03 I see less the quality of Alabamian, or Canadian, British, French, ^ off there, . . . . or as a Malay or from Africa . . . .
1369
Iroquois eating the warflesh—fishtearer in his lair of rocks and sand . . . .
                   
Esquimaux in the dark cold snowhouse . . . . Chinese with his transverse eyes
                   
 . . . . Bedowee—or wandering nomad—or tabounschik at the head of his
                   
droves,
document location text
duk.00263 #l04 I see forward the or savage ^ off there in the woods, the or fisheater in his lair of rocks and sand, the or Chinese ^ with his transverse eyes . . . in his roofed boat , ^ or . . . . the or wandering nomad, and the or tabounshick at the head of his drove,
duk.00886 #item01 —The Tartar life—nomadic pasturage, the herds—
#item02 the tabounshic or horse‑herd
1370
Grown, half-grown, and babe—of this country and every country, indoors and out-
                   
doors I see . . . . and all else is behind or through them.
document location text
duk.00263 #l05 I see meMan and womean and children in all
#l06 I see tThese indoors and outdoors ^ I see . . . . and all else ^ is is behind them or through them,.—
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things

1371
The wife—and she is not one jot less than the husband,
document location text
duk.00263 #l07 I see the wife . . . . and she is not one jot less than the husband,
loc.00141 #tw48 The woman is not the same less than the man as
#tw49 But she is not never less the same,
1372
The daughter—and she is just as good as the son,
1373
The mother—and she is every bit as much as the father.
document location text
duk.00263 #l08 I see the mother . . . . and she is every bit as much as the fath

1374
Offspring of those not rich—boys apprenticed to trades,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 59

1375
Young fellows working on farms and old fellows working on farms;
1376
The naive . . . . the simple and hardy . . . . he going to the polls to vote . . . . he
                   
who has a good time, and he who has a bad time;
1377
Mechanics, southerners, new arrivals, sailors, mano'warsmen, merchantmen, coast-
                   
ers,
document location text
duk.00263 #l10 I see you and stand before you, boatmen and sailors sailors, manofwarsmen and merchantmen and coastman
1378
All these I see . . . . but nigher and farther the same I see;
1379
None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape me.

1380
I bring what you much need, yet always have,
1381
I bring not money or amours or dress or eating . . . . but I bring as good;
1382
And send no agent or medium . . . . and offer no representative of value—but offer
                   
the value itself.

1383
There is something that comes home to one now and perpetually,
1384
It is not what is printed or preached or discussed . . . . it eludes discussion and
                   
print,
1385
It is not to be put in a book . . . . it is not in this book,
1386
It is for you whoever you are . . . . it is no farther from you than your hearing and
                   
sight are from you,
1387
It is hinted by nearest and commonest and readiest . . . . it is not them, though it is
                   
endlessly provoked by them . . . . What is there ready and near you now?
document location text
nyp.00057 #p04 Not distant caverns, volcanoes, cataracts, curious islands, birds, foreign cities, architecture, costumes, markets, ceremonies, shows, are any more wonderful than ‸ what is common to you, near you now, and continually with you.—

1388
You may read in many languages and read nothing about it;
1389
You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,
document location text
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
1390
Nothing in the reports from the state department or treasury department . . . . or in
                   
the daily papers, or the weekly papers,
1391
Or in the census returns or assessors' returns or prices current or any accounts of
                   
stock.
document location text
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1392
The sun and stars that float in the open air . . . . the appleshaped earth and we upon
                   
it . . . . surely the drift of them is something grand;
1393
I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,
1394
And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation, or bon-mot or
                   
reconnoissance,
1395
And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without
                   
luck must be a failure for us,
1396
And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.

1397
The light and shade—the curious sense of body and identity—the greed that
                   
with perfect complaisance devours all things—the endless pride and out-
                   
stretching of man—unspeakable joys and sorrows,
1398
The wonder every one sees in every one else he sees . . . . and the wonders that fill
                   
each minute of time forever and each acre of surface and space forever,
document location text
loc.01019 #seg05 Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,
tex.00057 #l01 And to me each minute of the night and day is chock with something as vital and visible vital live as flesh is
#l06 And on to me each acre of the earth land and sea, I behold exhibits to me perpetual ^ unending marvellous pictures;
#l08 And to me each every minute of the night and day is filled with a [live?] joy


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



60 Leaves of Grass.

1399
Have you reckoned them as mainly for a trade or farmwork? or for the profits of
                   
a store? or to achieve yourself a position? or to fill a gentleman's leisure or a
                   
lady's leisure?

1400
Have you reckoned the landscape took substance and form that it might be painted
                   
in a picture?
1401
Or men and women that they might be written of, and songs sung?
1402
Or the attraction of gravity and the great laws and harmonious combinations and
                   
the fluids of the air as subjects for the savans?
document location text
loc.00142 #p08 The attraction of gravity is the law under which you make your house plumb but that's not what the law is specially made for
nyp.00029 #l01 The power by which the carpenter plumbs his house, is the same power that dashes his brains out if he fall from the roof.—
nyp.00129 #seg03 Priests and The doctors might all deny the attraction of gravity, and that sublime law power would never complain.—Be thou you like the grand powers.—
nyp.00733 #l01 Can it Do you take the attraction of gravity for nothing?
1403
Or the brown land and the blue sea for maps and charts?
1404
Or the stars to be put in constellations and named fancy names?
1405
Or that the growth of seeds is for agricultural tables or agriculture itself?

1406
Old institutions . . . . these arts libraries legends collections—and the practice
                   
handed along in manufactures  . . . . will we rate them so high?
document location text
duk.00263 #l12 These This are the old new Now for a legend not old, but as new as the newest on the rolling spreading land
1407
Will we rate our prudence and business so high? . . . . I have no objection,
1408
I rate them as high as the highest . . . . but a child born of a woman and man I rate
                   
beyond all rate.

1409
We thought our Union grand and our Constitution grand;
1410
I do not say they are not grand and good—for they are,
1411
I am this day just as much in love with them as you,
1412
But I am eternally in love with you and with all my fellows upon the earth.

1413
We consider the bibles and religions divine . . . . I do not say they are not divine,
1414
I say they have all grown out of you and may grow out of you still,
1415
It is not they who give the life . . . . it is you who give the life;
1416
Leaves are not more shed from the trees or trees from the earth than they are shed
                   
out of you.

1417
The sum of all known value and respect I add up in you whoever you are;
1418
The President is up there in the White House for you . . . . it is not you who are
                   
here for him,
1419
The Secretaries act in their bureaus for you . . . . not you here for them,
1420
The Congress convenes every December for you,
1421
Laws, courts, the forming of states, the charters of cities, the going and coming of
                   
commerce and mails are all for you.

1422
All doctrines, all politics and civilization exurge from you,
1423
All sculpture and monuments and anything inscribed anywhere are tallied in you,
document location text
duk.00148 #p01 —then sculpture was necessary—it was an eminent part of religion it gave grand and beautiful forms to to the gods—it appealed to the mind, in perfect harmony, with the people, the climate, belief, times, governments, aspirations.—It and was the true ^ needed expression of the people, the times, and their aspirations.—
duk.00877 #ab01 [cut away] Give us men, [fellows?] tall as ^ the [illegible] Egyptian Sesostris who who was 6 ft 10 inches high, and nobly [s]haped and nimble and conquered all Asia and part [o]f Europe in nine years, [a]nd wherever he went [e]rected monuments to tell how he found the people.—If they were [illegible] ^ repulsive [a]nd brave he inscribed these monuments [illegible]
1424
The gist of histories and statistics as far back as the records reach is in you this
                   
hour—and myths and tales the same;
1425
If you were not breathing and walking here where would they all be?
1426
The most renowned poems would be ashes . . . . orations and plays would be
                   
vacuums.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 61

1427
All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it;
1428
Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and
                   
cornices?

1429
All music is what awakens from you when you are reminded by the instruments,
document location text
tex.00088 #p01 Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody ^ mere melody of those instruments— . . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day ^ [break?] light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums ^ cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of ^ flimsiest tinder rags of a cowards s . . . . .—Do you suppose that ^ in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else. which music ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which ^ and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no ^ figure of writing ^ or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which ^ tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one ^ you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and ^ far at sea looks ^ far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—
1430
It is not the violins and the cornets . . . . it is not the oboe nor the beating drums—
                   
nor the notes of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza . . . . nor those
                   
of the men's chorus, nor those of the women's chorus,
document location text
tex.00088 #p01 Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody ^ mere melody of those instruments— . . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day ^ [break?] light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums ^ cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of ^ flimsiest tinder rags of a cowards s . . . . .—Do you suppose that ^ in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else. which music ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which ^ and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no ^ figure of writing ^ or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which ^ tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one ^ you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and ^ far at sea looks ^ far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—
1431
It is nearer and farther than they.
document location text
tex.00088 #p01 Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody ^ mere melody of those instruments— . . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day ^ [break?] light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums ^ cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of ^ flimsiest tinder rags of a cowards s . . . . .—Do you suppose that ^ in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else. which music ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which ^ and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no ^ figure of writing ^ or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which ^ tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one ^ you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and ^ far at sea looks ^ far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—

1432
Will the whole come back then?
1433
Can each see the signs of the best by a look in the lookingglass? Is there nothing
                   
greater or more?
1434
Does all sit there with you and here with me?

1435
The old forever new things . . . . you foolish child! . . . . the closest simplest things
                   
—this moment with you,
1436
Your person and every particle that relates to your person,
1437
The pulses of your brain waiting their chance and encouragement at every deed
                   
or sight;
1438
Anything you do in public by day, and anything you do in secret betweendays,
1439
What is called right and what is called wrong . . . . what you behold or touch . . . .
                   
what causes your anger or wonder,
1440
The anklechain of the slave, the bed of the bedhouse, the cards of the gambler, the
                   
plates of the forger;
1441
What is seen or learned in the street, or intuitively learned,
1442
What is learned in the public school—spelling, reading, writing and ciphering . . . .
                   
the blackboard and the teacher's diagrams:
1443
The panes of the windows and all that appears through them . . . . the going forth
                   
in the morning and the aimless spending of the day;
1444
(What is it that you made money? what is it that you got what you wanted?)
1445
The usual routine . . . . the workshop, factory, yard, office, store, or desk;
1446
The jaunt of hunting or fishing, or the life of hunting or fishing,
1447
Pasturelife, foddering, milking and herding, and all the personnel and usages;
1448
The plum-orchard and apple-orchard . . . . gardening . . seedlings, cuttings, flowers
                   
and vines,
1449
Grains and manures . . marl, clay, loam . . the subsoil plough . . the shovel and pick
                   
and rake and hoe . . irrigation and draining;
1450
The currycomb . . the horse-cloth . . the halter and bridle and bits . . the very wisps
                   
of straw,
1451
The barn and barn-yard . . the bins and mangers . . the mows and racks:
1452
Manufactures . . commerce . . engineering . . the building of cities, and every trade
                   
carried on there . . and the implements of every trade,
1453
The anvil and tongs and hammer . . the axe and wedge . .  the square and mitre and
                   
jointer and smoothingplane;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



62 Leaves of Grass.

1454
The plumbob and trowel and level . . the wall-scaffold, and the work of walls and
                   
ceilings . . or any mason-work:
1455
The ship's compass . . the sailor's tarpaulin . . the stays and lanyards, and the ground-
                   
tackle for anchoring or mooring,
1456
The sloop's tiller . . the pilot's wheel and bell . . the yacht or fish-smack . . the great
                   
gay-pennanted three-hundred-foot steamboat under full headway, with her proud
                   
fat breasts and her delicate swift-flashing paddles;
1457
The trail and line and hooks and sinkers . . the seine, and hauling the seine;
1458
Smallarms and rifles . . . . the powder and shot and caps and wadding . . . . the
                   
ordnance for war . . . . the carriages:
1459
Everyday objects . . . . the housechairs, the carpet, the bed and the counterpane of
                   
the bed, and him or her sleeping at night, and the wind blowing, and the indefi-
                   
nite noises:
1460
The snowstorm or rainstorm . . . . the tow-trowsers . . . . the lodge-hut in the woods,
                   
and the still-hunt:
document location text
loc.00141 #tw65 the tow trowsers thee lodge hut in the woods the stillhunt
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
1461
City and country . . fireplace and candle . . gaslight and heater and aqueduct;
1462
The message of the governor, mayor, or chief of police . . . . the dishes of breakfast
                   
or dinner or supper;
document location text
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
#ab08 The dishes on the daily table—the coffee the roast meat—the oysters—the coffee and cornbread and rye and wheatbread,
1463
The bunkroom, the fire-engine, the string-team, and the car or truck behind;
document location text
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
1464
The paper I write on or you write on . . and every word we write . . and every
                   
cross and twirl of the pen . . and the curious way we write what we think . . . .
                   
yet very faintly;
1465
The directory, the detector, the ledger . . . . the books in ranks or the bookshelves
                   
 . . . . the clock attached to the wall,
document location text
loc.05589 #seg01 The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
1466
The ring on your finger . . the lady's wristlet . . the hammers of stonebreakers or
                   
coppersmiths . . the druggist's vials and jars;
1467
The etui of surgical instruments, and the etui of oculist's or aurist's instruments, or
                   
dentist's instruments;
1468
Glassblowing, grinding of wheat and corn . . casting, and what is cast . . tinroofing,
                   
shingledressing,
1469
Shipcarpentering, flagging of sidewalks by flaggers . .  dockbuilding, fishcuring, ferry-
                   
ing;
1470
The pump, the piledriver, the great derrick . . the coalkiln and brickkiln,
1471
Ironworks or whiteleadworks . . the sugarhouse . .  steam-saws, and the great mills
                   
and factories;
1472
The cottonbale . . the stevedore's hook . . the saw and buck of the sawyer . . the
                   
screen of the coalscreener . .  the mould of the moulder . . the workingknife of
                   
the butcher;
1473
The cylinder press . . the handpress . . the frisket and tympan . . the compositor's
                   
stick and rule,
1474
The implements for daguerreotyping . . . . the tools of the rigger or grappler or sail-
                   
maker or blockmaker,
1475
Goods of guttapercha or papiermache . . . . colors and brushes . . . . glaziers' im-
                   
plements,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 63

1476
The veneer and gluepot . . the confectioner's ornaments . . the decanter and glasses
                   
 . . the shears and flatiron;
1477
The awl and kneestrap . . the pint measure and quart measure . . the counter and
                   
stool . . the writingpen of quill or metal;
1478
Billiards and tenpins . . . . the ladders and hanging ropes of the gymnasium, and the
                   
manly exercises;
document location text
tul.00011 #ab01 Poem—a perfect school, gymnastic, moral, mental and sentimental,—in which magnificent men are formed —old persons come just as much as youth—gymnastics, physiology, music, swimming bath —conversation,—declamation— —large saloons adorned with pictures and sculpture—great ideas not taught in sermons but imbibed as health is imbibed— —love—love of woman—all manly exercises —riding, rowing—the greatest persons come—the president comes and the governors come—political economy —the American idea in all its amplitude and comprehensiveness— —grounds, gardens, flowers, grains— cabinets—old history taught—
1479
The designs for wallpapers or oilcloths or carpets . . . . the fancies for goods for
                   
women . . . . the bookbinder's stamps;
1480
Leatherdressing, coachmaking, boilermaking, ropetwisting, distilling, signpainting,
                   
limeburning, coopering, cottonpicking,
1481
The walkingbeam of the steam-engine . . the throttle and governors, and the up and
                   
down rods,
1482
Stavemachines and plainingmachines . . . . the cart of the carman . . the omnibus . . 
                   
the ponderous dray;
1483
The snowplough and two engines pushing it . . . . the ride in the express train of
                   
only one car . . . . the swift go through a howling storm:
1484
The bearhunt or coonhunt . . . . the bonfire of shavings in the open lot in the city
                   
 . . the crowd of children watching;
1485
The blows of the fighting-man . . the upper cut and one-two-three;
document location text
loc.05589 #seg02 the blows of the fightingmen—the uppercut and onetwo[three?]
1486
The shopwindows . . . . the coffins in the sexton's wareroom . . . . the fruit on the
                   
fruitstand . . . . the beef on the butcher's stall,
1487
The bread and cakes in the bakery . . . . the white and red pork in the pork-store;
1488
The milliner's ribbons . . the dressmaker's patterns . . . . the tea-table . . the home-
                   
made sweetmeats:
1489
The column of wants in the one-cent paper . . the news by telegraph . . . . the
                   
amusements and operas and shows:
1490
The cotton and woolen and linen you wear . . . . the money you make and spend;
1491
Your room and bedroom . . . . your piano-forte . . . . the stove and cookpans,
1492
The house you live in . . . . the rent . . . . the other tenants . . . . the deposite in the
                   
savings-bank . . . . the trade at the grocery,
1493
The pay on Saturday night . . . . the going home, and the purchases;
1494
In them the heft of the heaviest . . . . in them far more than you estimated, and far
                   
less also,
1495
In them, not yourself . . . . you and your soul enclose all things, regardless of estima-
                   
tion,
1496
In them your themes and hints and provokers . . if not, the whole earth has no
                   
themes or hints or provokers, and never had.

1497
I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile . . . . I do not advise you to stop,
1498
I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,
1499
But I say that none lead to greater or sadder or happier than those lead to.

1500
Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,
1501
In things best known to you finding the best or as good as the best,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



64 Leaves of Grass.

1502
In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest and strongest and lovingest,
1503
Happiness not in another place, but this place . . not for another hour, but this hour,
document location text
duk.00262 #l12 And devise themselves to this spot place These States and this hour,
1504
Man in the first you see or touch . . . . always in your friend or brother or nighest
                   
neighbor . . . . Woman in your mother or lover or wife,
1505
And all else thus far known giving place to men and women.

1506
When the psalm sings instead of the singer,
1507
When the script preaches instead of the preacher,
1508
When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that carved the supporting
                   
desk,
1509
When the sacred vessels or the bits of the eucharist, or the lath and plast, procreate
                   
as effectually as the young silversmiths or bakers, or the masons in their
                   
overalls,
document location text
duk.00261 #l04 Brick and mortar do not procreate like men;
loc.00013 #l01 And until your brick and mortar can procreate as I can,
1510
When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman and child convince,
1511
When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the nightwatchman's daughter,
1512
When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my friendly companions,
1513
I intend to reach them my hand and make as much of them as I do of men and
                   
women.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -




Leaves of Grass.



—————

1514
TO think of time . . . . to think through the retrospection,
1515
To think of today . . and the ages continued henceforward.

1516
Have you guessed you yourself would not continue? Have you dreaded those
                   
earth-beetles?
1517
Have you feared the future would be nothing to you?

1518
Is today nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing?
1519
If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing.

1520
To think that the sun rose in the east . . . . that men and women were flexible and
                   
real and alive . . . . that every thing was real and alive;
1521
To think that you and I did not see feel think nor bear our part,
1522
To think that we are now here and bear our part.

1523
Not a day passes . . not a minute or second without an accouchement;
1524
Not a day passes . . not a minute or second without a corpse.

1525
When the dull nights are over, and the dull days also,
1526
When the soreness of lying so much in bed is over,
1527
When the physician, after long putting off, gives the silent and terrible look for an
                   
answer,
1528
When the children come hurried and weeping, and the brothers and sisters have
                   
been sent for,
1529
When medicines stand unused on the shelf, and the camphor-smell has pervaded the
                   
rooms,
1530
When the faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the dying,
1531
When the twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of the dying,
1532
When the breath ceases and the pulse of the heart ceases,
1533
Then the corpse-limbs stretch on the bed, and the living look upon them,
1534
They are palpable as the living are palpable.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



66 Leaves of Grass.

1535
The living look upon the corpse with their eyesight,
1536
But without eyesight lingers a different living and looks curiously on the corpse.

1537
To think that the rivers will come to flow, and the snow fall, and fruits ripen . . and
                   
act upon others as upon us now . . . . yet not act upon us;
1538
To think of all these wonders of city and country . . and others taking great interest
                   
in them . . and we taking small interest in them.

1539
To think how eager we are in building our houses,
1540
To think others shall be just as eager . . and we quite indifferent.

1541
I see one building the house that serves him a few years  . . . . or seventy or eighty
                   
years at most;
1542
I see one building the house that serves him longer than that.

1543
Slowmoving and black lines creep over the whole earth . . . . they never cease . . . .
                   
they are the burial lines,
1544
He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall surely be
                   
buried.

1545
Cold dash of waves at the ferrywharf,
1546
Posh and ice in the river . . . . half-frozen mud in the streets,
document location text
loc.00025 #nde11 In the city when the streets have been long neglected, they heap up banks of mud in the shape of graves, and put boards at the head and feet, with very significant inscriptions.—
1547
A gray discouraged sky overhead . . . . the short last daylight of December,
1548
A hearse and stages . . . . other vehicles give place,
1549
The funeral of an old stagedriver . . . . the cortege mostly drivers.

1550
Rapid the trot to the cemetery,
1551
Duly rattles the deathbell . . . . the gate is passed . . . . the grave is halted at . . . .
                   
the living alight . . . . the hearse uncloses,
1552
The coffin is lowered and settled . . . . the whip is laid on the coffin,
1553
The earth is swiftly shovelled in . . . . a minute . . no one moves or speaks . . . . it is
                   
done,
1554
He is decently put away . . . . is there anything more?

1555
He was a goodfellow,
1556
Freemouthed, quicktempered, not badlooking, able to take his own part,
1557
View side-by-side images (new window)
Witty, Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_01 LC_05 LC_08 PC_03 UI_01 UNL_01 UTA_05 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UVa_10
Witty, Note: In these copies, the word "Witty" is located slightly to the right in relation to the rest of the text block. Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 BrU_04 DU_01 DU_02 DU_03 DU_04 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_06 LC_07 LC_09 LC_10 LC_11 LC_12 LC_13 LC_14 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_02 UVa_03 UVa_04 UVa_07 UVa_09
sensitive to a slight, ready with life or death for a friend,
1558
Fond of women, . . played some . . eat hearty and drank hearty,
1559
Had known what it was to be flush . . grew lowspirited toward the last . . sickened
                   
 . . was helped by a contribution,
1560
Died aged forty-one years . . and that was his funeral.

1561
Thumb extended or finger uplifted,
1562
Apron, cape, gloves, strap . . . . wetweather clothes . . . . whip carefully chosen . . . .
                   
boss, spotter, starter, and hostler,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 67

1563
Somebody loafing on you, or you loafing on somebody . . . . headway . . . . man
                   
before and man behind,
1564
Good day's work or bad day's work . . . . pet stock or mean stock . . . . first out or
                   
last out . . . . turning in at night,
1565
To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers . . and he there takes
                   
no interest in them.

1566
The markets, the government, the workingman's wages . . . . to think what account
                   
they are through our nights and days;
1567
To think that other workingmen will make just as great account of them . . yet we
                   
make little or no account.

1568
The vulgar and the refined . . . . what you call sin and what you call goodness . . to
                   
think how wide a difference;
1569
To think the difference will still continue to others, yet we lie beyond the difference.

1570
To think how much pleasure there is!
1571
Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? Have you pleasure from poems?
1572
Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or planning a nomina-
                   
tion and election? or with your wife and family?
1573
Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the beautiful ma-
                   
ternal cares?

1574
These also flow onward to others . . . . you and I flow onward;
1575
But in due time you and I shall take less interest in them.

1576
Your farm and profits and crops . . . . to think how engrossed you are;
1577
To think there will still be farms and profits and crops . . yet for you of what avail?

1578
What will be will be well—for what is is well,
document location text
yal.00138 #seg19 What has been has been well, and what is is well, for nothing but them such as they could come out of what such as underlay or underlies them.—
1579
To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.

1580
The sky continues beautiful . . . . the pleasure of men with women shall never be
                   
sated . . nor the pleasure of women with men . . nor the pleasure from poems;
1581
The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses—they
                   
are not phantasms . . they have weight and form and location;
1582
The farms and profits and crops . . the markets and wages and government . . they
                   
also are not phantasms;
1583
The difference between sin and goodness is no apparition;
document location text
loc.00042 #l04 And [Nor?] I say that And I say that man is not ^ space is not an apparition;
loc.00141 #tw26 Man is not Nor man an apparition;
1584
The earth is not an echo . . . . man and his life and all the things of his life are well-
                   
considered.
document location text
loc.00042 #l03 And I say this ^ the earth ^ globe world is not an ^ [ earth and ?] the stars are not echo,s
#l04 And [Nor?] I say that And I say that man is not ^ space is not an apparition;
loc.00141 #tw25 The ^ know I say the earth is [illegible] not ^ an echo;
#tw26 Man is not Nor man an apparition;
tex.00057 #l10 And I say the stars are not echoes

1585
You are not thrown to the winds . . you gather certainly and safely around yourself,
1586
Yourself! Yourself! Yourself forever and ever!


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



68 Leaves of Grass.

1587
It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to
                   
identify you,
1588
It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;
1589
Something long preparing and formless is arrived and formed in you,
1590
You are thenceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.

1591
The threads that were spun are gathered . . . . the weft crosses the warp . . . .
                   
the pattern is systematic.

1592
The preparations have every one been justified;
1593
The orchestra have tuned their instruments sufficiently . . . . the baton has given the
                   
signal.

1594
The guest that was coming . . . . he waited long for reasons . . . . he is now housed,
1595
He is one of those who are beautiful and happy . . . . he is one of those that to look
                   
upon and be with is enough.

1596
The law of the past cannot be eluded.
1597
The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,
1598
The law of the living cannot be eluded . . . . it is eternal,
1599
The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,
1600
The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,
1601
The law of drunkards and informers and mean persons cannot be eluded.

1602
Slowmoving and black lines go ceaselessly over the earth,
1603
Northerner goes carried and southerner goes carried . . . . and they on the Atlantic
                   
side and they on the Pacific, and they between, and all through the Mississippi
                   
country . . . . and all over the earth.

1604
The great masters and kosmos are well as they go . . . . the heroes and good-doers
                   
are well,
document location text
tul.00002 #l01 The great three or four poets ^ of the stretch of the are well . . . . the wellknown names of leaders and inventors . . . . the rich owners and the ^ pious and distinguished; —may be well, ?
1605
The known leaders and inventors and the rich owners and pious and distinguished
                   
may be well,
document location text
tul.00002 #l01 The great three or four poets ^ of the stretch of the are well . . . . the wellknown names of leaders and inventors . . . . the rich owners and the ^ pious and distinguished; —may be well, ?
#l02 But what are of all the rest?—Are Is there none of account but ^ of poets and the distinguished and the [illegible] the owners ^ and pious? ?
1606
But there is more account than that . . . . there is strict account of all.
document location text
tul.00002 #l02 But what are of all the rest?—Are Is there none of account but ^ of poets and the distinguished and the [illegible] the owners ^ and pious? ?

1607
The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,
document location text
tul.00002 #l03 Are the ignorant and wicked nothing?
#l04 Are the interminable races hordes of Asia and Africa nothing
1608
The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,
document location text
tul.00002 #l04 Are the interminable races hordes of Asia and Africa nothing
1609
The common people of Europe are not nothing . . . . the American aborigines are
                   
not nothing,
document location text
tul.00002 #l05 Are the [illegible] common people of Europe and America nothing?
#l06 Are the American aborigines and the [neg?] nothing?
1610
A zambo or a foreheadless Crowfoot or a Camanche is not nothing,
document location text
tul.00002 #l07 Are Is the a zZambo and the or a ^ foreheadless cCrowfoot or the a Camanche nothing?
1611
The infected in the immigrant hospital are not nothing . . . . the murderer or mean
                   
person is not nothing,
document location text
tul.00002 #l08 Is the a wretched young polluted man, thievish, —a thief, uneducated, polluted, rank, swiftly dying with the polluting rank sickness, nothing?
#l09 Is the Are the infected in the immigrant hospital nothing?
1612
The perpetual succession of shallow people are not nothing as they go,
document location text
tul.00002 #l10 Are the perpetual successions of shallow persons and frivolous persons nothing?
1613
The prostitute is not nothing . . . . the mocker of religion is not nothing as he goes.
document location text
duk.00889 #q01 Are the prostitutes nothing? Are the mockers of religion nothing?

1614
I shall go with the rest . . . . we have satisfaction:


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 69

1615
I have dreamed that we are not to be changed so much . . . . nor the law of us
                   
changed;
1616
I have dreamed that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present and past law,
1617
And that murderers and drunkards and liars shall be under the present and past law;
1618
For I have dreamed that the law they are under now is enough.

1619
And I have dreamed that the satisfaction is not so much changed . . . . and that there
                   
is no life without satisfaction;
1620
What is the earth? what are body and soul without satisfaction?

1621
I shall go with the rest,
1622
We cannot be stopped at a given point . . . . that is no satisfaction;
1623
To show us a good thing or a few good things for a space of time—that is no satis-
                   
faction;
1624
We must have the indestructible breed of the best, regardless of time.

1625
If otherwise, all these things came but to ashes of dung;
1626
If maggots and rats ended us, then suspicion and treachery and death.

1627
Do you suspect death? If I were to suspect death I should die now,
1628
Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?

1629
Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,
1630
Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,
1631
The whole universe indicates that it is good,
1632
The past and the present indicate that it is good.

1633
How beautiful and perfect are the animals! How perfect is my soul!
1634
How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
1635
What is called good is perfect, and what is called sin is just as perfect;
1636
The vegetables and minerals are all perfect . . and the imponderable fluids are
                   
perfect;
document location text
nyp.00025 #l01 As the soiledness turbulence of the expressions of the earth,—as the great heat and the great cold—as the soiledness of animals and the bareness of vegetables and minerals
1637
Slowly and surely they have passed on to this, and slowly and surely they will yet
                   
pass on.

1638
O my soul! if I realize you I have satisfaction,
1639
Animals and vegetables! if I realize you I have satisfaction,
1640
Laws of the earth and air! if I realize you I have satisfaction.

1641
I cannot define my satisfaction . . yet it is so,
1642
I cannot define my life . . yet it is so.

1643
I swear I see now that every thing has an eternal soul!
1644
The trees have, rooted in the ground . . . . the weeds of the sea have . . . . the
                   
animals.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



70 Leaves of Grass.

1645
I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
1646
That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering
                   
is for it,
1647
And all preparation is for it . . and identity is for it . . and life and death are for it.






Leaves of Grass.



—————

1648
I WANDER all night in my vision,
1649
Stepping with light feet . . . . swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,
document location text
loc.00141 #l45 Stepped my soul spirit with light feet, and pried among them their heads and [drew in?] made fissures in their breasts, to look through
1650
Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers;
1651
Wandering and confused . . . . lost to myself . . . . ill-assorted . . . . contradictory,
1652
Pausing and gazing and bending and stopping.

1653
How solemn they look there, stretched and still;
1654
How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles.

1655
The wretched features of ennuyees, the white features of corpses, the livid faces of
                   
drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,
1656
The gashed bodies on battlefields, the insane in their strong-doored rooms, the
                   
sacred idiots,
1657
The newborn emerging from gates and the dying emerging from gates,
1658
The night pervades them and enfolds them.

1659
The married couple sleep calmly in their bed, he with his palm on the hip of the
                   
wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,
1660
The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,
1661
The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,
1662
And the mother sleeps with her little child carefully wrapped.

1663
The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep,
1664
The prisoner sleeps well in the prison . . . . the runaway son sleeps,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 71

1665
The murderer that is to be hung next day . . . . how does he sleep?
document location text
loc.00141 #l44 Among murderers and cannibals and traders in slaves
1666
And the murdered person . . . . how does he sleep?
document location text
loc.00141 #l44 Among murderers and cannibals and traders in slaves

1667
The female that loves unrequited sleeps,
1668
And the male that loves unrequited sleeps;
1669
The head of the moneymaker that plotted all day sleeps,
1670
And the enraged and treacherous dispositions sleep.

1671
I stand with drooping eyes by the worstsuffering and restless,
1672
I pass my hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them;
1673
The restless sink in their beds . . . . they fitfully sleep.

1674
The earth recedes from me into the night,
document location text
tex.00030 #l07 The earth recedes ashamed before my prophetical crisis.—
1675
I saw that it was beautiful . . . . and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.

1676
I go from bedside to bedside . . . . I sleep close with the other sleepers, each
                   
in turn;
1677
I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers,
1678
And I become the other dreamers.

1679
I am a dance . . . . Play up there! the fit is whirling me fast.
document location text
duk.00883 #ab01 I am a look mystic in a trance exaltation

1680
I am the everlaughing . . . . it is new moon and twilight,
1681
I see the hiding of douceurs . . . . I see nimble ghosts whichever way I look,
document location text
loc.00025 #seg02 I think ten million supple-^ fingered gods are perpetually employed hiding beauty in the world—hiding burying its every-where in every-thing—but and most of all where in spots that men and women do not think of it, and never look—as in death, and misery poverty and wickedness.
#seg09 I think ten million supple-fingered wristed gods are perpetually employed always hiding beauty in the world—burying it every where in every thing—and most of all in spots that men and women do not think of and never look—as Death and Poverty and Wickedness.
1682
Cache and cache again deep in the ground and sea, and where it is neither ground or
                   
sea.
document location text
loc.00025 #seg03 Cache [illegible] ^ after and cache —it is— again they all over the earth, and in the heavens above ^ that swathe the earth and in the dept waters of the sea.
#seg10 Cache! and Cache again! all over the earth, and in the heavens that swathe the earth, and in the waters of the sea.

1683
Well do they do their jobs, those journeymen divine,
document location text
loc.00025 #seg04 Thei They do their work jobs well; those supple-fingered gods. journeymen divine.
#seg11 They do their jobs well; those journeymen divine.
1684
Only from me can they hide nothing and would not if they could;
document location text
loc.00025 #seg05 But Only to from the poet do can they ^ can hide nothing; ^ and would not if they could.— hide.
#seg12 Only from the Poet they can hide nothing and would not if they could.
1685
I reckon I am their boss, and they make me a pet besides,
document location text
loc.00025 #ab03 President Lo ^ Their Their Rules and their Pets! I see them lead him onward now.—I see the his large slow gait, his face ^ illuminated and gay like the face of a happy young child.—I see him shooting the light of his soul
#seg07 I think reckon he is the really the god Boss of those gods; for they and the work they do is done for him, and all that they have concealed they have concealed for his sake sake
#seg13 I reckon he is Boss of those gods; and the work they do is done for him; and all they have concealed, they have concealed for his sake.—Him they attend indoors and outdoors.
#nde04 Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—
1686
And surround me, and lead me and run ahead when I walk,
document location text
loc.00025 #ab03 President Lo ^ Their Their Rules and their Pets! I see them lead him onward now.—I see the his large slow gait, his face ^ illuminated and gay like the face of a happy young child.—I see him shooting the light of his soul
#seg08 Ahead ^ For Him they attend outdoors or indoors; to his perceptions they open all.— They ru run nimbly ahead as when he walks, and and to lift their cunning covers, and poi signify to him with pointed pointed stretched arms.—The The (They undress Delight
#seg14 They run ahead when he walks, and lift their cunning covers and signify him with pointed stretched arms.
#nde04 Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—
1687
And lift their cunning covers and signify me with stretched arms, and resume the
                   
way;
document location text
loc.00025 #seg06 Him they attend wait on night and day and show where they take uncover all, that he shall see the naked breast and the most private of Delight.
#seg08 Ahead ^ For Him they attend outdoors or indoors; to his perceptions they open all.— They ru run nimbly ahead as when he walks, and and to lift their cunning covers, and poi signify to him with pointed pointed stretched arms.—The The (They undress Delight
#seg13 I reckon he is Boss of those gods; and the work they do is done for him; and all they have concealed, they have concealed for his sake.—Him they attend indoors and outdoors.
#seg14 They run ahead when he walks, and lift their cunning covers and signify him with pointed stretched arms.
1688
Onward we move, a gay gang of blackguards with mirthshouting music and wild-
                   
flapping pennants of joy.
document location text
loc.00025 #seg01 that when they leave me the pennants of my joy sink flat from the and lank in the deadest calm?—
#ab04 Onward ^ he moves ^ with the gay procession, to the music of laughter and the [swing?] band of laughing pioneers and the ^ wild trilling bugles of joy.—
#ab05 Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild-trilling bugles of joy
#nde04 Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—

1689
I am the actor and the actress . . . . the voter . . the politician,
1690
The emigrant and the exile . . the criminal that stood in the box,
1691
He who has been famous, and he who shall be famous after today,
1692
The stammerer . . . . the wellformed person . . the wasted or feeble person.

1693
I am she who adorned herself and folded her hair expectantly,
1694
My truant lover has come and it is dark.

1695
Double yourself and receive me darkness,
1696
Receive me and my lover too . . . . he will not let me go without him.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



72 Leaves of Grass.

1697
I roll myself upon you as upon a bed . . . . I resign myself to the dusk.

1698
He whom I call answers me and takes the place of my lover,
1699
He rises with me silently from the bed.

1700
Darkness you are gentler than my lover . . . . his flesh was sweaty and panting,
1701
I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.

1702
My hands are spread forth . . I pass them in all directions,
1703
I would sound up the shadowy shore to which you are journeying.

1704
Be careful, darkness . . . . already, what was it touched me?
1705
I thought my lover had gone . . . . else darkness and he are one,
1706
I hear the heart-beat . . . . I follow . . I fade away.

1707
O hotcheeked and blushing! O foolish hectic!
1708
O for pity's sake, no one must see me now! . . . . my clothes were stolen while I
                   
was abed,
1709
Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?

1710
Pier that I saw dimly last night when I looked from the windows,
1711
Pier out from the main, let me catch myself with you and stay . . . . I will not chafe
                   
you;
1712
I feel ashamed to go naked about the world,
1713
And am curious to know where my feet stand . . . . and what is this flooding
                   
me, childhood or manhood . . . . and the hunger that crosses the bridge
                   
between.

1714
The cloth laps a first sweet eating and drinking,
document location text
duk.00883 #ab04 The sSweet [Trickling?] Trickling sSap ^ that trickles drops flows from the end of the [poli?] little manly maple tooth of delight tooth-prong—tine
1715
Laps life-swelling yolks . . . . laps ear of rose-corn, milky and just ripened:
document location text
duk.00883 #item06 flour-corn
1716
The white teeth stay, and the boss-tooth advances in darkness,
document location text
duk.00883 #ab04 The sSweet [Trickling?] Trickling sSap ^ that trickles drops flows from the end of the [poli?] little manly maple tooth of delight tooth-prong—tine
1717
And liquor is spilled on lips and bosoms by touching glasses, and the best liquor
                   
afterward.

1718
I descend my western course . . . . my sinews are flaccid,
1719
Perfume and youth course through me, and I am their wake.

1720
It is my face yellow and wrinkled instead of the old woman's,
1721
I sit low in a strawbottom chair and carefully darn my grandson's stockings.

1722
It is I too . . . . the sleepless widow looking out on the winter midnight,
1723
I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid earth.

1724
A shroud I see—and I am the shroud . . . . I wrap a body and lie in the coffin;
document location text
loc.00141 #l91 The sepulchre
#l92 Observing the shroud
#l93 The sepulchre and the white linen have yielded me up
#tw59 Observing the summer grass
tex.00030 #l01 [I?] am ^ [can be?] [I am can?] become a corpse, shroud; shrouded and buried,
#l08 I have wrapped a man's body body, and am lie in the coffin with him. it.
1725
It is dark here underground . . . . it is not evil or pain here . . . . it is blank here, for
                   
reasons.
document location text
tex.00030 #l02 ¶ It is dark there underground;—
#l03 It is not evil or pain there—it is the absence of all that is good.—



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 73

1726
It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
document location text
duk.00260 #l01 The mighty magic of lLight and air!
tex.00030 #l04 Now it seems to me that any every thing out of from not under above ^ in the ground light ^ above must be happy, enough,
1727
Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.
document location text
tex.00030 #l05 Whoever is not in his coffin, and the dark grave, let him req know he has enough.

1728
I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies of the sea,
1729
His brown hair lies close and even to his head . . . . he strikes out with courageous
                   
arms . . . . he urges himself with his legs.

1730
I see his white body . . . . I see his undaunted eyes;
1731
I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him headforemost on the rocks.

1732
What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?
1733
Will you kill the courageous giant? Will you kill him in the prime of his middle age?

1734
Steady and long he struggles;
1735
He is baffled and banged and bruised . . . . he holds out while his strength holds out,
1736
The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood . . . . they bear him away . . . . they
                   
roll him and swing him and turn him:
1737
His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies . . . . it is continually bruised on
                   
rocks,
1738
Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.

1739
I turn but do not extricate myself;
1740
Confused . . . . a pastreading . . . . another, but with darkness yet.

1741
The beach is cut by the razory ice-wind . . . . the wreck-guns sound,
1742
The tempest lulls and the moon comes floundering through the drifts.

1743
I look where the ship helplessly heads end on . . . . I hear the burst as she strikes . . 
                   
I hear the howls of dismay  . . . . they grow fainter and fainter.

1744
I cannot aid with my wringing fingers;
1745
I can but rush to the surf and let it drench me and freeze upon me.

1746
I search with the crowd . . . . not one of the company is washed to us alive;
1747
In the morning I help pick up the dead and lay them in rows in a barn.

1748
Now of the old war-days . . the defeat at Brooklyn;
1749
Washington stands inside the lines . . he stands on the entrenched hills amid a crowd
                   
of officers,
1750
His face is cold and damp . . . . he cannot repress the weeping drops . . . . he lifts
                   
the glass perpetually to his eyes . . . . the color is blanched from his cheeks,
1751
He sees the slaughter of the southern braves confided to him by their parents.

1752
The same at last and at last when peace is declared,
1753
He stands in the room of the old tavern . . . . the wellbeloved soldiers all pass
                   
through,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



74 Leaves of Grass.

1754
The officers speechless and slow draw near in their turns,
1755
The chief encircles their necks with his arm and kisses them on the cheek,
1756
He kisses lightly the wet cheeks one after another . . . . he shakes hands and bids
                   
goodbye to the army.

1757
Now I tell what my mother told me today as we sat at dinner together,
1758
Of when she was a nearly grown girl living home with her parents on the old home-
                   
stead.

1759
A red squaw came one breakfasttime to the old homestead,
1760
On her back she carried a bundle of rushes for rushbottoming chairs;
1761
Her hair straight shiny coarse black and profuse halfenveloped her face,
1762
Her step was free and elastic . . . . her voice sounded exquisitely as she spoke.

1763
My mother looked in delight and amazement at the stranger,
1764
She looked at the beauty of her tallborne face and full and pliant limbs,
1765
The more she looked upon her she loved her,
1766
Never before had she seen such wonderful beauty and purity;
1767
She made her sit on a bench by the jamb of the fireplace  . . . . she cooked food for
                   
her,
1768
She had no work to give her but she gave her remembrance and fondness.

1769
The red squaw staid all the forenoon, and toward the middle of the afternoon she
                   
went away;
1770
O my mother was loth to have her go away,
1771
All the week she thought of her . . . . she watched for her many a month,
1772
She remembered her many a winter and many a summer,
1773
But the red squaw never came nor was heard of there again.

1774
Now Lucifer was not dead . . . . or if he was I am his sorrowful terrible heir;
document location text
duk.00787 #l02 It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
#l04 I am loosen the voice tongue that was tied in you them
#l05 In me It begins to talk out of my mouth
#l09 I am the voice of another man
loc.00141 #l85 I am a Curse:
#l86 O topple down like Curse! topple more heavy than death!
#l87 I am lurid with rage!
loc.00346 #l6 And Till the taunt and curse oath [sink?] swim ^ away from my dim and dizzy ^ away from my in his ears
#l7 What Lucifer felt, ^ cursed when tumbling from Heaven
uva.00256 #l01 I am black a curse: a black slave negro spoke felt thought thinks me
#l02 You You He could annot speak for himyourself, slave negro.—I lend you him my own mouth tongue
#l03 A black I darted like a snake from his ^ [illegible] mouth.—
uva.00257 #l01 I am a hell‑name and a Curse:
#l02 The [illegible] Black Lucifer was not dead;
#l03 Or if he was, I am his sorrowful, terrible heir:
uva.00258 #l01 Crash Topple down upon him, Curse! [Cursing?] Light! for I am ^ you seem to me all one lurid Curse oath curse;
1775
I have been wronged . . . . I am oppressed . . . . I hate him that oppresses me,
document location text
loc.00141 #l89 I will not listen
#l90 I will not spare
loc.00346 #l17 And his eye that shoot burns defiance and desperation hatred
uva.00257 #l04 I am Apollyon, I am the God of Revolt—deathless sorrowful vast scorner of those him ^ whoever who rules ^ oppresses me,
uva.00258 #l08 I will not listen—I will not spare—I will am justified of myself::
1776
I will either destroy him, or he shall release me.
document location text
loc.00141 #l88 Let fate pursue them
uva.00257 #l05 I will either destroy them him or they he shall release me.
uva.00258 #l04 ^ This day, or some other, I will have him and the like of him to curse the do my will upon.
#l09 The I will pursue fFor a million hundred years ^ I will pursue those who have injured me so much.

1777
Damn him! how he does defile me,
document location text
uva.00257 #l06 Damn him! how he does defile me!
uva.00258 #l03 Damn him! how he does defile me
1778
How he informs against my brother and sister and takes pay for their blood,
document location text
uva.00257 #l09 He iInformedr against my brother and sister and got tookaking pay for their blood, hearts; blood,
1779
How he laughs when I look down the bend after the steamboat that carries away my
                   
woman.
document location text
uva.00256 #l04 I My eyes are bloodshot, they look down the river,
#l05 A steamboat carries off paddles away my woman and children.—
#l07 T The His iIron necklace and the red sores of my the shoulders I do not feel mind,
#l08 The hHopples and ball at my the ancles, ^ and tight cuffs at the wrists does ^ must not detain me
#l09 I ^ will go down the river, mywith ^ the sight of my bloodshot eyes,
#l10 I ^ will go in to the steamboat that paddles ^ off my wife woman and child
#l11 A I do not stop with my woman and children,
#l13 But for them, I sh too should have been on the steamboat [cut away]
uva.00257 #l10 He He l Llaughed when I looked ^ from my iron necklace, after the steamboat that carried away my woman.—
uva.00258 #l02 I look down off the river with my bloodshot eyes, after I see the steamboat that carries off away my woman.—
uva.00260 #l01 The sores on my neck shoulders are from his iron necklace
#l02 I look on the off on the river with my bloodshot eyes
#l03 He stops the steamboat and till she will paddle off with away take my woman, and paddle away with her

1780
Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale's bulk . . . . it seems mine,
document location text
loc.00141 #p03 —he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.00483 #hp01 Beware the flukes of the whale. ^ He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.—
#hp02 The flukes of a whale they are as quick as light
1781
Warily, sportsman! though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, my tap is death.
document location text
loc.00141 #l86 O topple down like Curse! topple more heavy than death!
loc.00483 #hp01 Beware the flukes of the whale. ^ He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.—
#ab101 tThat black and huge lethargic mass, my sportsmen, dull and sleepy as it seems, has holds the lightning and the taps bolts of thunder.—He is slow—O, long and long and slow and slow—but when he does move, his lightest touch is death.
uva.00256 #l12 I burst down the saloon doors, and crash on party of passengers.—

1782
A show of the summer softness . . . . a contact of something unseen . . . . an amour
                   
of the light and air;
document location text
duk.00260 #l01 The mighty magic of lLight and air!
1783
I am jealous and overwhelmed with friendliness,
1784
And will go gallivant with the light and the air myself,
1785
And have an unseen something to be in contact with them also.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 75

1786
O love and summer! you are in the dreams and in me,
1787
Autumn and winter are in the dreams . . . . the farmer goes with his thrift,
1788
The droves and crops increase . . . . the barns are wellfilled.

1789
Elements merge in the night . . . . ships make tacks in the dreams . . . . the sailor
                   
sails . . . . the exile returns home,
1790
The fugitive returns unharmed . . . . the immigrant is back beyond months and years;
1791
The poor Irishman lives in the simple house of his childhood, with the wellknown
                   
neighbors and faces,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab13 The poor despised—Irish girls ^ and boys immigrants just over
1792
They warmly welcome him . . . . he is barefoot again . . . . he forgets he is welloff;
1793
The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welchman voyage home . . 
                   
and the native of the Mediterranean voyages home;
1794
To every port of England and France and Spain enter wellfilled ships;
1795
The Swiss foots it toward his hills . . . . the Prussian goes his way, and the
                   
Hungarian his way, and the Pole goes his way,
1796
The Swede returns, and the Dane and Norwegian return.

1797
The homeward bound and the outward bound,
1798
The beautiful lost swimmer, the ennuyee, the onanist, the female that loves unre-
                   
quited, the moneymaker,
1799
The actor and actress . . those through with their parts and those waiting to
                   
commence,
1800
The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nominee that is chosen
                   
and the nominee that has failed,
1801
The great already known, and the great anytime after to day,
1802
The stammerer, the sick, the perfectformed, the homely,
1803
The criminal that stood in the box, the judge that sat and sentenced him, the fluent
                   
lawyers, the jury, the audience,
1804
The laugher and weeper, the dancer, the midnight widow, the red squaw,
1805
The consumptive, the erysipalite, the idiot, he that is wronged,
1806
The antipodes, and every one between this and them in the dark,
1807
I swear they are averaged now . . . . one is no better than the other,
1808
The night and sleep have likened them and restored them.

1809
I swear they are all beautiful,
1810
Every one that sleeps is beautiful . . . . every thing in the dim night is beautiful,
1811
The wildest and bloodiest is over and all is peace.

1812
Peace is always beautiful,
1813
The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.

1814
The myth of heaven indicates the soul;
1815
The soul is always beautiful . . . . it appears more or it appears less . . . . it comes or
                   
lags behind,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10b The ^ effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels ^ and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



76 Leaves of Grass.

1816
It comes from its embowered garden and looks pleasantly on itself and encloses the
                   
world;
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10b The ^ effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels ^ and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.
1817
Perfect and clean the genitals previously jetting, and perfect and clean the womb
                   
cohering,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10b The ^ effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels ^ and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.
1818
The head wellgrown and proportioned and plumb, and the bowels and joints
                   
proportioned and plumb.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10b The ^ effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels ^ and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.

1819
The soul is always beautiful,
1820
The universe is duly in order . . . . every thing is in its place,
1821
What is arrived is in its place, and what waits is in its place;
1822
The twisted skull waits . . . . the watery or rotten blood waits,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10 A twisted skull, and blood made becom thin watery or rotten by ^ ancestry or gluttony, or rum or bad disorders,
1823
The child of the glutton or venerealee waits long, and the child of the drunkard
                   
waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw10 A twisted skull, and blood made becom thin watery or rotten by ^ ancestry or gluttony, or rum or bad disorders,
1824
The sleepers that lived and died wait . . . . the far advanced are to go on in their
                   
turns, and the far behind are to go on in their turns,
1825
The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite . . . . they unite
                   
now.

1826
The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,
1827
They flow hand in hand over the whole earth from east to west as they lie un-
                   
clothed;
1828
The Asiatic and African are hand in hand . . . . the European and American are
                   
hand in hand,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab03 pictures illustrating a European Asiatic African
1829
Learned and unlearned are hand in hand . . and male and female are hand in hand;
document location text
loc.00141 #tw31 I am the for sinners and the unlearned
1830
The bare arm of the girl crosses the bare breast of her lover . . . . they press close
                   
without lust . . . . his lips press her neck,
1831
The father holds his grown or ungrown son in his arms with measureless love . . . .
                   
and the son holds the father in his arms with measureless love,
1832
The white hair of the mother shines on the white wrist of the daughter,
1833
The breath of the boy goes with the breath of the man . . . . friend is inarmed by
                   
friend,
1834
The scholar kisses the teacher and the teacher kisses the scholar . . . . the wronged
                   
is made right,
1835
The call of the slave is one with the master's call . .  and the master salutes the slave,
document location text
loc.00141 #l01 I am the poet of slaves, and of ^ the masters of slaves
#l07 The I go with the slaves ^ of the earth ^ equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
#l201 And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
#l08 And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
1836
The felon steps forth from the prison . . . . the insane becomes sane . . . . the suffer-
                   
ing of sick persons is relieved,
1837
The sweatings and fevers stop . . the throat that was unsound is sound . . the lungs
                   
of the consumptive are resumed . . the poor distressed head is free,
1838
The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly as ever, and smoother than ever,
1839
Stiflings and passages open . . . . the paralysed become supple,
1840
The swelled and convulsed and congested awake to themselves in condition,
1841
They pass the invigoration of the night and the chemistry of the night and awake.

1842
I too pass from the night;
1843
I stay awhile away O night, but I return to you again and love you;


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 77

1844
Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?
1845
I am not afraid . . . . I have been well brought forward by you;
1846
I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long:
1847
I know not how I came of you, and I know not where I go with you . . . . but I
                   
know I came well and shall go well.

1848
I will stop only a time with the night . . . . and rise betimes.

1849
I will duly pass the day O my mother and duly return to you;
1850
Not you will yield forth the dawn again more surely than you will yield forth me
                   
again,
1851
Not the womb yields the babe in its time more surely than I shall be yielded from
                   
you in my time.






Leaves of Grass.



—————

1852
THE bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them,
1853
They will not let me off nor I them till I go with them and respond to them
                   
and love them.

1854
Was it dreamed whether those who corrupted their own live bodies could conceal
                   
themselves?
document location text
loc.00346 #q03 No man and no woman can with bruise gash or starve or overburden or pollute or imbibe bad rotten stuff in the that superior nature of his or her's, any more than one can poison or starve his body.—
nyp.00524 #ab01 tainting the best of the rich orchard of himself . . . . and he who anyway does not respect his own organs and cherish them and strengthen them, and keep himself clean not only on his face but outside and inside—need not let that man young or old never de deceive himself with the folly that the bad sore stuff and the under is hid by the cloth he wears and his makes no avowal.—Though the secret is well hid, though the eye does not see, nor the hand touch, nor the nose smell, the rank odor strikes out
1855
And whether those who defiled the living were as bad as they who defiled the
                   
dead?

1856
The expression of the body of man or woman balks account,
1857
The male is perfect and that of the female is perfect.
document location text
yal.00483 #l05 The perfect male and female are everywhere in their place.

1858
The expression of a wellmade man appears not only in his face,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab10 The expression of a well perfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips
1859
It is in his limbs and joints also . . . . it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab10 The expression of a well perfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips
1860
It is in his walk . . the carriage of his neck . . the flex of his waist and knees . . . .
                   
dress does not hide him,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab10 The expression of a well perfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips
#seg03 Dress does not hide him. The quality he has and the clean strong sweet supple [illegible] nature he has [illegible] strike through his the cotton and woolen.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



78 Leaves of Grass.

1861
The strong sweet supple quality he has strikes through the cotton and flannel;
document location text
loc.05589 #seg03 Dress does not hide him. The quality he has and the clean strong sweet supple [illegible] nature he has [illegible] strike through his the cotton and woolen.
1862
To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem . .  perhaps more,
document location text
loc.05589 #seg04 To see him walk is a spectacle or a conveys the impression of to hearing a beautiful poem.
1863
You linger to see his back and the back of his neck and shoulderside.
document location text
loc.05589 #seg05 To see his back and the back of his neck and shoulderside is a spectacle.

1864
The sprawl and fulness of babes . . . . the bosoms and heads of women . . . . the
                   
folds of their dress . . . . their style as we pass in the street . . . . the contour of
                   
their shape downwards;
1865
The swimmer naked in the swimmingbath . . seen as he swims through the salt
                   
transparent greenshine, or lies on his back and rolls silently with the heave of
                   
the water;
document location text
loc.05589 #ab07 The swimming-bath the [stinggall?]
1866
Framers bare-armed framing a house . . hoisting the beams in their places . . or
                   
using the mallet and mortising-chisel,
1867
The bending forward and backward of rowers in rowboats . . . . the horseman in his
                   
saddle;
1868
Girls and mothers and housekeepers in all their exquisite offices,
1869
The group of laborers seated at noontime with their open dinnerkettles, and their
                   
wives waiting,
1870
The female soothing a child . . . . the farmer's daughter in the garden or cowyard,
1871
The woodman rapidly swinging his axe in the woods . . . . the young fellow hoeing
                   
corn . . . . the sleighdriver guiding his six horses through the crowd,
1872
The wrestle of wrestlers . . two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty, goodnatured,
                   
nativeborn, out on the vacant lot at sundown after work,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab12 Poem of the Wrestlers
1873
The coats vests and caps thrown down . . the embrace of love and resistance,
1874
The upperhold and underhold—the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;
1875
The march of firemen in their own costumes—the play of the masculine muscle
                   
through cleansetting trowsers and waistbands,
document location text
duk.00878 #seg01 Attitudes and expressions of fire company of returning [slowly?] home, with fire flushed [faces?] and loose attire:
1876
The slow return from the fire . . . . the pause when the bell strikes suddenly again—
                   
the listening on the alert,
document location text
duk.00878 #seg01 Attitudes and expressions of fire company of returning [slowly?] home, with fire flushed [faces?] and loose attire:
#seg02 The alarm bell strikes, a fresh [alarm?], and on the instant [cut away] stop and each has a [cut away] and eager, listening look, to
1877
The natural perfect and varied attitudes . . . . the bent head, the curved neck, the
                   
counting:
document location text
loc.05589 #ab100 be sure ^ of the district where the trouble is—they wait thus perfectly still and in splendid postures—
1878
Suchlike I love . . . . I loosen myself and pass freely . . . . and am at the mother's
                   
breast with the little child,
document location text
loc.00141 #tw31a I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269 #l01 I am become the poet of babes and the little things
1879
And swim with the swimmer, and wrestle with wrestlers, and march in line with the
                   
firemen, and pause and listen and count.

1880
I knew a man . . . . he was a common farmer . . . . he was the father of five sons . . . 
                   
and in them were the fathers of sons . . . and in them were the fathers of sons.

1881
This man was of wonderful vigor and calmness and beauty of person;
1882
The shape of his head, the richness and breadth of his manners, the pale yellow
                   
and white of his hair and beard, the immeasurable meaning of his black eyes,
1883
These I used to go and visit him to see . . . . He was wise also,
1884
He was six feet tall . . . . he was over eighty years old  . . . . his sons were massive
                   
clean bearded tanfaced and handsome,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 79

1885
They and his daughters loved him . . . all who saw him loved him . . . they did not
                   
love him by allowance . . .  they loved him with personal love;
1886
He drank water only . . . . the blood showed like scarlet through the clear brown
                   
skin of his face;
1887
He was a frequent gunner and fisher . . . he sailed his boat himself . . . he had a fine
                   
one presented to him by a shipjoiner . . . . he had fowling-pieces, presented to
                   
him by men that loved him;
1888
When he went with his five sons and many grandsons to hunt or fish you would pick
                   
him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of the gang,
1889
You would wish long and long to be with him . . . . you would wish to sit by him in
                   
the boat that you and he might touch each other.

1890
I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
1891
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
1892
To be surrounded by beautiful curious breathing laughing flesh is enough,
1893
To pass among them . . to touch any one . . . . to rest my arm ever so lightly round
                   
his or her neck for a moment . . . . what is this then?
document location text
loc.05589 #l10 Do you know what it is to have men and women crave the touch of your hand and the contact of you?
1894
I do not ask any more delight . . . . I swim in it as in a sea.

1895
There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them and in
                   
the contact and odor of them that pleases the soul well,
1896
All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.

1897
This is the female form,
1898
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
1899
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
1900
I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor . . . . all falls
                   
aside but myself and it,
1901
Books, art, religion, time . . the visible and solid earth . . the atmosphere and the
                   
fringed clouds . . what was expected of heaven or feared of hell are now
                   
consumed,
document location text
nyp.00085 #l01 Will you have the walls [cut away] the world with the air and the fringed clouds
1902
Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it . . the response likewise ungovern-
                   
able,
1903
Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands—all diffused . . . . mine too
                   
diffused,
1904
Ebb stung by the flow, and flow stung by the ebb . . . . loveflesh swelling and
                   
deliciously aching,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab04 Body Loveflesh swelling and deliciously throbbing aching
nyp.00734 #item08 loveache
1905
Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous . . . . quivering jelly of love . . . white-
                   
blow and delirious juice,
document location text
loc.05589 #l27 one a quivering jelly of love limpid transparent
#l28 [illegible] Limitless jets of love, hot and enormous
#ab05 whiteblood of love
nyp.00734 #item07 lovejet
1906
Bridegroom-night of love working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn,
document location text
loc.05589 #head03 Bridalnight.
1907
Undulating into the willing and yielding day,
document location text
nyp.00116 #i01 undulating
1908
Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweetfleshed day.

1909
This is the nucleus . . . after the child is born of woman the man is born of woman,
1910
This is the bath of birth . . . this is the merge of small and large and the outlet again.
document location text
nyp.00116 #i02 swiftly merging
#i03 from womb to birth
#i04 from birth to fullness and transmission



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



80 Leaves of Grass.

1911
Be not ashamed women . . your privilege encloses the rest . . it is the exit of the rest,
1912
You are the gates of the body and you are the gates of the soul.

1913
The female contains all qualities and tempers them . . . . she is in her place . . . .
                   
she moves with perfect balance,
document location text
yal.00483 #l05 The perfect male and female are everywhere in their place.
1914
She is all things duly veiled . . . . she is both passive and active . . . . she is to con-
                   
ceive daughters as well as sons and sons as well as daughters.
document location text
loc.05589 #p03 There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—

1915
As I see my soul reflected in nature . . . . as I see through a mist one with inexpress-
                   
ible completeness and beauty . . . . see the bent head and arms folded over the
                   
breast . . . . the female I see,
document location text
loc.05589 #p10 ☞ over leaf The [illegible] Nature is an ethereal mirror deep deep and floating The mirror that Nature holds ^ and hides behind is deep and floating and ethereal and faithful. —in [illegible] it ^ a man ^ always sends and sees himself in it— from it himself he reflects his ^ the fashion of his gods and all his religions and politics and books and art and social and public institutions—ignorance or knowledge—kindness or cruelty—grossness or refinement—definitions or chaos—each [illegible] is unerringly sent back to him or her who curiously gazes.
#p03 There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—
1916
I see the bearer of the great fruit which is immortality  . . . . the good thereof is
                   
not tasted by roues, and never can be.

1917
The male is not less the soul, nor more . . . . he too is in his place,
document location text
yal.00483 #l05 The perfect male and female are everywhere in their place.
1918
He too is all qualities . . . . he is action and power . . . . the flush of the known
                   
universe is in him,
document location text
duk.00128 #p02 I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
uva.00287 #l03 Man, microcosm of all Creation's wildness, terror, beauty and power,
1919
Scorn becomes him well and appetite and defiance become him well,
1920
The fiercest largest passions . . bliss that is utmost and sorrow that is utmost be-
                   
come him well . . . . pride is for him,
document location text
uva.00287 #l01 Man, before the rage of whose passions the storms of Heaven are but a breath;
1921
The fullspread pride of man is calming and excellent to the soul;
1922
Knowledge becomes him . . . . he likes it always . . . . he brings everything to the
                   
test of himself,
document location text
uva.00249 #l01 To me I subject all the teachings of the schools, and all dicta and authority, to my the tests of myself
#l02 And myself,—and I encourage you to subject the same to the tests of yourself—and to subject me and my words, severely as any, to ^ the strongest stronger tests than any thing else of an[cut away]
1923
Whatever the survey . . whatever the sea and the sail, he strikes soundings at last
                   
only here,
document location text
tex.00088 #seg09 Heave the lead for soundings over the whole sea, this is the place you touch bottom the lead hits hard bottom here, if no where else.—
1924
Where else does he strike soundings except here?
document location text
tex.00088 #seg09 Heave the lead for soundings over the whole sea, this is the place you touch bottom the lead hits hard bottom here, if no where else.—

1925
The man's body is sacred and the woman's body is sacred . . . . it is no matter who,
1926
Is it a slave? Is it one of the dullfaced immigrants just landed on the wharf?

1927
Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the welloff  . . . . just as much as
                   
you,
1928
Each has his or her place in the procession.
document location text
loc.00346 #q06 and marches, like gladly round, a ^ beautiful tangible creature, in itsher place in the newer processions of God,

1929
All is a procession,
1930
The universe is a procession with measured and beautiful motion.
document location text
duk.00128 #p02 I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
loc.00163 #q10 Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward
loc.00346 #q06 and marches, like gladly round, a ^ beautiful tangible creature, in itsher place in the newer processions of God,

1931
Do you know so much that you call the slave or the dullface ignorant?
1932
Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight . . . and he or she has no
                   
right to a sight?
1933
Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffused float, and the soil is
                   
on the surface and water runs and vegetation sprouts for you . . and not for
                   
him and her?

1934
A slave at auction!
document location text
loc.05589 #head01 A Man at auction
#ab15 man and woman at auction
1935
I help the auctioneer . . . . the sloven does not half know his business.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 81

1936
Gentlemen look on this curious creature,
1937
Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for him,
document location text
loc.05589 #l17 How much for the man
#l18 He is of ? value
1938
For him the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or plant,
document location text
loc.00141 #ab15 Could we imagine such a thing—let us suggest that before a manchild or womanchild was born it should be suggested that a human being could be born—imagine the world in its formation—the long rolling heaving cycles—can man appear here?—can the beautiful animal vegetable and animal life appear here?
loc.05589 #l19 For him the earth lay preparing billions of years without one animal or plant
1939
For him the revolving cycles truly and steadily rolled.
document location text
loc.00141 #ab15 Could we imagine such a thing—let us suggest that before a manchild or womanchild was born it should be suggested that a human being could be born—imagine the world in its formation—the long rolling heaving cycles—can man appear here?—can the beautiful animal vegetable and animal life appear here?

1940
In that head the allbaffling brain,
1941
In it and below it the making of the attributes of heroes.

1942
Examine these limbs, red black or white . . . . they are very cunning in tendon and
                   
nerve;
1943
They shall be stript that you may see them.

1944
Exquisite senses, lifelit eyes, pluck, volition,
1945
Flakes of breastmuscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby, goodsized arms
                   
and legs,
1946
And wonders within there yet.

1947
Within there runs his blood . . . . the same old blood . . the same red running blood;
1948
There swells and jets his heart . . . . There all passions and desires . . all reachings
                   
and aspirations:
1949
Do you think they are not there because they are not expressed in parlors and
                   
lecture-rooms?
document location text
loc.05589 #ab50 Literature to these gentlemen is a parlor in which no person is to be welcomed unless he come attired in dress coat and observing the approved decorums with the fashionable

1950
This is not only one man . . . . he is the father of those who shall be fathers in their
                   
turns,
document location text
loc.05589 #l21 He is not only himself
#l22 He is the father of other men who shall be fathers in their turn
1951
In him the start of populous states and rich republics,
1952
Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments.

1953
How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring through the
                   
centuries?
1954
Who might you find you have come from yourself if you could trace back through
                   
the centuries?

1955
A woman at auction,
document location text
loc.05589 #head02 A woman at Auction
#ab15 man and woman at auction
1956
She too is not only herself . . . . she is the teeming mother of mothers,
document location text
loc.05589 #l25 She [can?] is not only herself she is the bearer of of other women, who shall be mothers,
1957
She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.
document location text
loc.05589 #l26 She is the bearer of men who shall be[cut away]

1958
Her daughters or their daughters' daughters . . who knows who shall mate with
                   
them?
1959
Who knows through the centuries what heroes may come from them?

1960
In them and of them natal love . . . . in them the divine mystery . . . . the same old
                   
beautiful mystery.

1961
Have you ever loved a woman?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



82 Leaves of Grass.

1962
Your mother . . . . is she living? . . . . Have you been much with her? and has she
                   
been much with you?
document location text
nyp.00116 #ab02 Do you remember your mother Is she living
1963
Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations and times all
                   
over the earth?

1964
If life and the soul are sacred the human body is sacred;
1965
And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of manhood untainted,
1966
And in man or woman a clean strong firmfibred body is beautiful as the most
                   
beautiful face.

1967
Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body? or the fool that corrupted
                   
her own live body?
1968
For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.

1969
Who degrades or defiles the living human body is cursed,
1970
Who degrades or defiles the body of the dead is not more cursed.






Leaves of Grass.



—————

1971
SAUNTERING the pavement or riding the country byroad here then are
                   
faces,
1972
Faces of friendship, precision, caution, suavity, ideality,
1973
The spiritual prescient face, the always welcome common benevolent face,
1974
The face of the singing of music, the grand faces of natural lawyers and judges
                   
broad at the backtop,
1975
The faces of hunters and fishers, bulged at the brows . . . . the shaved blanched
                   
faces of orthodox citizens,
1976
The pure extravagant yearning questioning artist's face,
1977
The welcome ugly face of some beautiful soul . . . . the handsome detested or
                   
despised face,
1978
The sacred faces of infants . . . . the illuminated face of the mother of many children,
document location text
loc.00163 #ab01 Poem descriptive of a good wife (housekeeper, cook, mother of many children.)
loc.05589 #p03 There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 83

1979
The face of an amour . . . . the face of veneration,
1980
The face as of a dream . . . . the face of an immobile rock,
1981
The face withdrawn of its good and bad . . a castrated face,
1982
A wild hawk . . his wings clipped by the clipper,
1983
A stallion that yielded at last to the thongs and knife of the gelder.

1984
Sauntering the pavement or crossing the ceaseless ferry, here then are faces;
1985
I see them and complain not and am content with all.

1986
Do you suppose I could be content with all if I thought them their own finale?

1987
This now is too lamentable a face for a man;
document location text
loc.00025 #nde09 Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?— A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man ^ Man is [a?] master of the President of the ^ whole earth..—This is some ^ the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
#nde10 What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays ^ flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!
1988
Some abject louse asking leave to be . . cringing for it,
document location text
loc.00025 #nde09 Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?— A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man ^ Man is [a?] master of the President of the ^ whole earth..—This is some ^ the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
#nde10 What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays ^ flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!
1989
Some milknosed maggot blessing what lets it wrig to its hole.
document location text
loc.00025 #nde09 Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?— A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man ^ Man is [a?] master of the President of the ^ whole earth..—This is some ^ the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
#nde10 What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays ^ flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!

1990
This face is a dog's snout sniffing for garbage;
1991
Snakes nest in that mouth . . I hear the sibilant threat.

1992
This face is a haze more chill than the arctic sea,
1993
Its sleepy and wobbling icebergs crunch as they go.

1994
This is a face of bitter herbs . . . . this an emetic . . . . they need no label,
1995
And more of the drugshelf . . laudanum, caoutchouc, or hog's lard.

1996
This face is an epilepsy advertising and doing business . . . . its wordless tongue
                   
gives out the unearthly cry,
1997
Its veins down the neck distend . . . . its eyes roll till they show nothing but their
                   
whites,
1998
Its teeth grit . . the palms of the hands are cut by the turned-in nails,
document location text
duk.00905 #l01 [The teeth grit?] [cut away] [palms of the?] hands are cut by the naturned in nails
1999
The man falls struggling and foaming to the ground while he speculates well.
document location text
duk.00905 #l02 St He It ^ The man falls struggling and foaming to the ground, though he begs and barters there.— so cooly.—

2000
This face is bitten by vermin and worms,
2001
And this is some murderer's knife with a halfpulled scabbard.

2002
This face owes to the sexton his dismalest fee,
document location text
uva.00562 #l01 This face mouth is the death‑bell pulled by the some sexton for his dismalest fee,
2003
An unceasing deathbell tolls there.
document location text
uva.00562 #l01 This face mouth is the death‑bell pulled by the some sexton for his dismalest fee,
#l02 The death‑bell tolls there.—

2004
Those are really men! . . . . the bosses and tufts of the great round globe!

2005
Features of my equals, would you trick me with your creased and cadaverous
                   
march?
2006
Well then you cannot trick me.

2007
I see your rounded never-erased flow,
2008
I see neath the rims of your haggard and mean disguises.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



84 Leaves of Grass.

2009
Splay and twist as you like . . . . poke with the tangling fores of fishes or rats,
2010
You'll be unmuzzled . . . . you certainly will.

2011
I saw the face of the most smeared and slobbering idiot they had at the asylum,
document location text
duk.00905 #l03 I remember when I visited the Asylum and they showed me their most smeared and slobbering idiot,
2012
And I knew for my consolation what they knew not;
document location text
duk.00905 #l04 Yet I knew for my for my consolation, of the great laws that emptied and broke my my brothers
2013
I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother,
document location text
duk.00905 #l04 Yet I knew for my for my consolation, of the great laws that emptied and broke my my brothers
2014
The same wait to clear the rubbish from the fallen tenement;
document location text
tex.00321 #l01 he same [cut away] , waited their due time to clear the rubbish from the fallen house tenement,
2015
And I shall look again in a score or two of ages,
document location text
tex.00321 #l03 And I shall am to look again in a score or two of ages
2016
And I shall meet the real landlord perfect and unharmed, every inch as good as
                   
myself.
document location text
tex.00321 #l04 And I shall meet the real landlord when [cut away] [he st?] [cut away] [d?]

2017
The Lord advances and yet advances:
2018
Always the shadow in front . . . . always the reached hand bringing up the laggards.

2019
Out of this face emerge banners and horses . . . . O superb! . . . . I see what is
                   
coming,
document location text
uva.00562 #l03 This face [marches?] with [banners?] banners and champing cha horses
uva.00566 #l06 I know the great procession is coming,
2020
I see the high pioneercaps . . . . I see the staves of runners clearing the way,
document location text
uva.00566 #l01 [cut away] clearing the way.—
#l07 I see ^ far off through the dust the towering caps of pioneers, ^ from ^ off through the [cut away]
#l08 I see the gilt tipt staves of policemen—clearing the way,
2021
I hear victorious drums.
document location text
uva.00566 #l02 I h Faintly through ^ above the roar I clearly hear the [illegible] the clear tutti of the victorious horns.— triumphal music drums.
#l03 I hear They I catch
#l04 I already catch the tutti of
#l09 Above the [th?] roar, I hear the the clear tutti of victorious horns.—

2022
This face is a lifeboat;
2023
This is the face commanding and bearded . . . . it asks no odds of the rest;
2024
This face is flavored fruit ready for eating;
2025
This face of a healthy honest boy is the programme of all good.

2026
These faces bear testimony slumbering or awake,
2027
They show their descent from the Master himself.

2028
Off the word I have spoken I except not one . . . . red white or black, all are deific,
2029
In each house is the ovum . . . . it comes forth after a thousand years.

2030
Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me,
2031
Tall and sufficient stand behind and make signs to me;
2032
I read the promise and patiently wait.
document location text
duk.00797 #seg02 I have no gibes nor mocks mockings or laughter;—I have only to be silent and patiently to wait.—

2033
This is a fullgrown lily's face,
2034
She speaks to the limber-hip'd man near the garden pickets,
2035
Come here, she blushingly cries . . . . Come nigh to me limber-hip'd man and give me
                   
your finger and thumb,
2036
Stand at my side till I lean as high as I can upon you,
2037
Fill me with albescent honey . . . . bend down to me,
2038
Rub to me with your chafing beard . . rub to my breast and shoulders.

2039
The old face of the mother of many children:
document location text
loc.00163 #ab01 Poem descriptive of a good wife (housekeeper, cook, mother of many children.)
loc.05589 #p03 There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—
2040
Whist! I am fully content.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 85

2041
Lulled and late is the smoke of the Sabbath morning,
2042
It hangs low over the rows of trees by the fences,
2043
It hangs thin by the sassafras, the wildcherry and the catbrier under them.

2044
I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree,
2045
I heard what the run of poets were saying so long,
2046
Heard who sprang in crimson youth from the white froth and the water-blue.

2047
Behold a woman!
2048
She looks out from her quaker cap . . . . her face is clearer and more beautiful than
                   
the sky.

2049
She sits in an armchair under the shaded porch of the farmhouse,
2050
The sun just shines on her old white head.

2051
Her ample gown is of creamhued linen,
2052
Her grandsons raised the flax, and her granddaughters spun it with the distaff and
                   
the wheel.

2053
The melodious character of the earth!
2054
The finish beyond which philosophy cannot go and does not wish to go!
2055
The justified mother of men!





2056
A YOUNG man came to me with a message from his brother,
2057
How should the young man know the whether and when of his brother?
2058
Tell him to send me the signs.

2059
And I stood before the young man face to face, and took his right hand in my left
                   
hand and his left hand in my right hand,
2060
And I answered for his brother and for men . . . . and I answered for the poet, and
                   
sent these signs.

2061
Him all wait for . . . . him all yield up to . . . . his word is decisive and final,
2062
Him they accept . . . . in him lave . . . . in him perceive themselves as amid light,
2063
Him they immerse, and he immerses them.

2064
Beautiful women, the haughtiest nations, laws, the landscape, people and animals,
2065
The profound earth and its attributes, and the unquiet ocean,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



86 Leaves of Grass.

2066
All enjoyments and properties, and money, and whatever money will buy,
2067
The best farms . . . . others toiling and planting, and he unavoidably reaps,
2068
The noblest and costliest cities . . . . others grading and building, and he domiciles
                   
there;
2069
Nothing for any one but what is for him . . . . near and far are for him,
2070
The ships in the offing . . . . the perpetual shows and marches on land are for him if
                   
they are for any body.

2071
He puts things in their attitudes,
2072
He puts today out of himself with plasticity and love,
2073
He places his own city, times, reminiscences, parents, brothers and sisters, associ-
                   
ations employment and politics, so that the rest never shame them afterward,
                   
nor assume to command them.

2074
He is the answerer,
document location text
loc.00005 #head02 The answerer
loc.00162 #l06 Now between the two comes the poet the Answerer,
2075
What can be answered he answers, and what cannot be answered he shows how it
                   
cannot be answered.

2076
A man is a summons and challenge,
2077
It is vain to skulk . . . . Do you hear that mocking and laughter? Do you hear the
                   
ironical echoes?
document location text
duk.00797 #seg02 I have no gibes nor mocks mockings or laughter;—I have only to be silent and patiently to wait.—

2078
Books friendships philosophers priests action pleasure pride beat up and down
                   
seeking to give satisfaction;
2079
He indicates the satisfaction, and indicates them that beat up and down also.

2080
Whichever the sex . . . whatever the season or place he may go freshly and gently
                   
and safely by day or by night,
2081
He has the passkey of hearts . . . . to him the response of the prying of hands on the
                   
knobs.

2082
His welcome is universal . . . . the flow of beauty is not more welcome or universal
                   
than he is,
2083
The person he favors by day or sleeps with at night is blessed.

2084
Every existence has its idiom . . . . every thing has an idiom and tongue;
document location text
loc.00141 #tw11a Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible] that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell ^ to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all ^ the whole is the poet, because
2085
He resolves all tongues into his own, and bestows it upon men . . and any man
                   
translates . . and any man translates himself also:
document location text
loc.00141 #tw11a Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible] that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell ^ to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all ^ the whole is the poet, because
loc.00142 #p03 He drinks up quickly All terms, all languages, and words. meanings.—To his curbless and bottomless powers, they are as be like the small ponds of rain water to the migrating herds of buffalo when they spread over occupy square miles and who make the earth ^ [illegible] miles square. look like a creeping spread.—Look See! he has only passed this way, and they are drained dry.
2086
One part does not counteract another part . . . . He is the joiner . . he sees how they
                   
join.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw11a Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible] that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell ^ to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all ^ the whole is the poet, because

2087
He says indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President at his levee,
document location text
loc.00024 #rf03 And to the great king "How are you friend?"
loc.00141 #tw11 He enters into th has the divine grammar of all tongues, and what says ^ indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President in the midst of his cabinet, and Good day my brother, to Sambo, among the black slaves rowed hoes of the sugar field, and both ^ understand him and know that his his speech is ^ right, well, right.
2088
And he says Good day my brother, to Cudge that hoes in the sugarfield;
document location text
loc.00024 #rf02 Where others are scornfully silent at some one steerage passenger from a foreign land, or black ^ or emptier of privies the poet says, "Good day, mMy brother! good day!"
loc.00141 #tw11 He enters into th has the divine grammar of all tongues, and what says ^ indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President in the midst of his cabinet, and Good day my brother, to Sambo, among the black slaves rowed hoes of the sugar field, and both ^ understand him and know that his his speech is ^ right, well, right.
2089
And both understand him and know that his speech is right.
document location text
loc.00141 #tw11 He enters into th has the divine grammar of all tongues, and what says ^ indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President in the midst of his cabinet, and Good day my brother, to Sambo, among the black slaves rowed hoes of the sugar field, and both ^ understand him and know that his his speech is ^ right, well, right.

2090
He walks with perfect ease in the capitol,
document location text
loc.05589 #l01 He walks with perfect ease among a congress of kings,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 87

2091
He walks among the Congress . . . . and one representative says to another, Here is
                   
our equal appearing and new.
document location text
loc.05589 #l01 He walks with perfect ease among a congress of kings,
#l02 And one king saith says to another, Here is our equal, ^ a prince whom we knew not before

2092
Then the mechanics take him for a mechanic,
2093
And the soldiers suppose him to be a captain . . . . and the sailors that he has
                   
followed the sea,
document location text
loc.05589 #l04 And the great soldiers for a captain
#l05 The sailors know that he has followed the sea,
2094
And the authors take him for an author . . . . and the artists for an artist,
document location text
loc.05589 #l03 Then the great authors take him for an author
2095
And the laborers perceive he could labor with them and love them;
2096
No matter what the work is, that he is one to follow it or has followed it,
2097
No matter what the nation, that he might find his brothers and sisters there.

2098
The English believe he comes of their English stock,
document location text
loc.05589 #l06 The English believe that comes of Saxon stock
2099
A Jew to the Jew he seems . . . . a Russ to the Russ . . . . usual and near . . 
                   
removed from none.

2100
Whoever he looks at in the traveler's coffeehouse claims him,
2101
The Italian or Frenchman is sure, and the German is sure, and the Spaniard is
                   
sure . . . . and the island Cuban is sure.
document location text
loc.05589 #l07 And the Italians f[illegible]

2102
The engineer, the deckhand on the great lakes or on the Mississippi or St Law-
                   
rence or Sacramento or Hudson or Delaware claims him.

2103
The gentleman of perfect blood acknowledges his perfect blood,
2104
The insulter, the prostitute, the angry person, the beggar, see themselves in the ways
                   
of him . . . . he strangely transmutes them,
document location text
loc.00141 #p02 The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—
2105
They are not vile any more . . . . they hardly know themselves, they are so grown.

2106
You think it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses,
2107
Well it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses;
2108
But what are verses beyond the flowing character you could have? . . . . or
                   
beyond beautiful manners and behaviour?
2109
Or beyond one manly or affectionate deed of an apprenticeboy? . . or old woman? . . 
                   
or man that has been in prison or is likely to be in prison?





2110
SUDDENLY out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves,
2111
Like lightning Europe le'pt forth . . . . half startled at itself,
2112
Its feet upon the ashes and the rags . . . . Its hands tight to the throats of kings.

2113
O hope and faith! O aching close of lives! O many a sickened heart!
2114
Turn back unto this day, and make yourselves afresh.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



88 Leaves of Grass.

2115
And you, paid to defile the People . . . . you liars mark:
2116
Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts,
2117
For court thieving in its manifold mean forms,
2118
Worming from his simplicity the poor man's wages;
2119
For many a promise sworn by royal lips, And broken, and laughed at in the breaking,
2120
Then in their power not for all these did the blows strike of personal revenge . . or
                   
the heads of the nobles fall;
2121
The People scorned the ferocity of kings.

2122
But the sweetness of mercy brewed bitter destruction, and the frightened rulers come
                   
back:
2123
Each comes in state with his train . . . . hangman, priest and tax-gatherer . . . .
                   
soldier, lawyer, jailer and sycophant.

2124
Yet behind all, lo, a Shape,
2125
Vague as the night, draped interminably, head front and form in scarlet folds,
2126
Whose face and eyes none may see,
2127
Out of its robes only this . . . . the red robes, lifted by the arm,
2128
One finger pointed high over the top, like the head of a snake appears.

2129
Meanwhile corpses lie in new-made graves . . . . bloody corpses of young men:
document location text
duk.00260 #ab01 [Under this rank coverlid stretch the corpses of young men.]
2130
The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily . . . . the bullets of princes are flying . . . .
                   
the creatures of power laugh aloud,
2131
And all these things bear fruits . . . . and they are good.

2132
Those corpses of young men,
document location text
duk.00260 #ab01 [Under this rank coverlid stretch the corpses of young men.]
2133
Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets . . . those hearts pierced by the gray lead,
2134
Cold and motionless as they seem . . live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.

2135
They live in other young men, O kings,
2136
They live in brothers, again ready to defy you:
2137
They were purified by death . . . . They were taught and exalted.

2138
Not a grave of the murdered for freedom but grows seed for freedom . . . . in its
                   
turn to bear seed,
2139
Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows nourish.

2140
Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose,
2141
But it stalks invisibly over the earth . . whispering counseling cautioning.

2142
Liberty let others despair of you . . . . I never despair of you.

2143
Is the house shut? Is the master away?
2144
Nevertheless be ready . . . . be not weary of watching,
2145
He will soon return . . . . his messengers come anon.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 89

2146
CLEAR the way there Jonathan!
2147
Way for the President's marshal! Way for the government cannon!
2148
Way for the federal foot and dragoons . . . . and the phantoms afterward.

2149
I rose this morning early to get betimes in Boston town;
2150
Here's a good place at the corner . . . . I must stand and see the show.

2151
I love to look on the stars and stripes . . . . I hope the fifes will play Yankee Doodle.

2152
How bright shine the foremost with cutlasses,
2153
Every man holds his revolver . . . . marching stiff through Boston town.

2154
A fog follows . . . . antiques of the same come limping,
2155
Some appear wooden-legged and some appear bandaged and bloodless.

2156
Why this is a show! It has called the dead out of the earth,
2157
The old graveyards of the hills have hurried to see;
2158
Uncountable phantoms gather by flank and rear of it,
2159
Cocked hats of mothy mould and crutches made of mist,
2160
Arms in slings and old men leaning on young men's shoulders.

2161
What troubles you, Yankee phantoms? What is all this chattering of bare gums?
2162
Does the ague convulse your limbs? Do you mistake your crutches for firelocks,
                   
and level them?

2163
If you blind your eyes with tears you will not see the President's marshal,
2164
If you groan such groans you might balk the government cannon.

2165
For shame old maniacs! . . . . Bring down those tossed arms, and let your white
                   
hair be;
2166
Here gape your smart grandsons . . . . their wives gaze at them from the windows,
2167
See how well-dressed . . . . see how orderly they conduct themselves.

2168
Worse and worse . . . . Can't you stand it? Are you retreating?
2169
Is this hour with the living too dead for you?

2170
Retreat then! Pell-mell! . . . . Back to the hills, old limpers!
2171
I do not think you belong here anyhow.

2172
But there is one thing that belongs here . . . . Shall I tell you what it is, gentlemen of
                   
Boston?

2173
I will whisper it to the Mayor . . . . he shall send a committee to England,
2174
They shall get a grant from the Parliament, and go with a cart to the royal vault.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



90 Leaves of Grass.

2175
Dig out King George's coffin . . . . unwrap him quick from the graveclothes . . . .
                   
box up his bones for a journey:
2176
Find a swift Yankee clipper . . . . here is freight for you blackbellied clipper,
2177
Up with your anchor! shake out your sails! . . . . steer straight toward Boston bay.

2178
Now call the President's marshal again, and bring out the government cannon,
2179
And fetch home the roarers from Congress, and make another procession and guard
                   
it with foot and dragoons.

2180
Here is a centrepiece for them:
2181
Look! all orderly citizens . . . . look from the windows women.

2182
The committee open the box and set up the regal ribs and glue those that will not
                   
stay,
2183
And clap the skull on top of the ribs, and clap a crown on top of the skull.

2184
You have got your revenge old buster! . . . . The crown is come to its own and more
                   
than its own.

2185
Stick your hands in your pockets Jonathan . . . . you are a made man from this day,
2186
You are mighty cute . . . . and here is one of your bargains.





2187
THERE was a child went forth every day,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab2 ☞ good subject Poem—Variety of characters, each one of whom comes forth every day—things appearing, transfers and promotions every day.
#ab3 There was a child went forth every day—and the first thing that he saw looked at with fixed love, that thing he became for the day.—
2188
And the first object he looked upon and received with wonder or pity or love
                   
or dread, that object he became,
document location text
loc.00005 #ab3 There was a child went forth every day—and the first thing that he saw looked at with fixed love, that thing he became for the day.—
2189
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day . . . . or
                   
for many years or stretching cycles of years.
document location text
loc.00005 #ab3 There was a child went forth every day—and the first thing that he saw looked at with fixed love, that thing he became for the day.—

2190
The early lilacs became part of this child,
2191
And grass, and white and red morningglories, and white and red clover, and the song
                   
of the phœbe-bird,
document location text
uva.00265 #l03 The song of the phoebebird, the blossoms of appletrees and the soft
2192
And the March-born lambs, and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the mare's foal, and
                   
the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-
                   
side . . and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there . . and the
                   
beautiful curious liquid . . and the water-plants with their graceful flat heads . . 
                   
all became part of him.

2193
And the field-sprouts of April and May became part of him  . . . . wintergrain sprouts,
                   
and those of the light-yellow corn, and of the esculent roots of the garden,
2194
And the appletrees covered with blossoms, and the fruit afterward . . . . and wood-
                   
berries . . and the commonest weeds by the road;
document location text
uva.00265 #l03 The song of the phoebebird, the blossoms of appletrees and the soft


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 91

2195
And the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse of the tavern whence he
                   
had lately risen,
2196
And the schoolmistress that passed on her way to the school . . and the friendly boys
                   
that passed . . and the quarrelsome boys . . and the tidy and freshcheeked girls . . 
                   
and the barefoot negro boy and girl,
2197
And all the changes of city and country wherever he went.

2198
His own parents . . he that had propelled the fatherstuff at night, and fathered him . . 
                   
and she that conceived him in her womb and birthed him . . . . they gave this
                   
child more of themselves than that,
2199
They gave him afterward every day . . . . they and of them became part of him.

2200
The mother at home quietly placing the dishes on the suppertable,
2201
The mother with mild words . . . . clean her cap and gown  . . . . a wholesome odor
                   
falling off her person and clothes as she walks by:
2202
The father, strong, selfsufficient, manly, mean, angered, unjust,
2203
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
2204
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture . . . . the yearning and
                   
swelling heart,
2205
Affection that will not be gainsayed . . . . The sense of what is real . . . . the thought
                   
if after all it should prove unreal,
2206
The doubts of daytime and the doubts of nighttime . . .  the curious whether and how,
2207
Whether that which appears so is so . . . . Or is it all flashes and specks?
2208
Men and women crowding fast in the streets . . if they are not flashes and specks
                   
what are they?
2209
The streets themselves, and the facades of houses . . . . the goods in the windows,
document location text
nyp.00029 #l01 The power by which the carpenter plumbs his house, is the same power that dashes his brains out if he fall from the roof.—
2210
Vehicles . . teams . . the tiered wharves, and the huge crossing at the ferries;
2211
The village on the highland seen from afar at sunset . . . . the river between,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab01 The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset—the sun sh [illegible] ining on the ^ red white ^ [illegible] or brown gables ^ red, white or brown
2212
Shadows . . aureola and mist . . light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown,
                   
three miles off,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab01 The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset—the sun sh [illegible] ining on the ^ red white ^ [illegible] or brown gables ^ red, white or brown
2213
The schooner near by sleepily dropping down the tide . .  the little boat slacktowed
                   
astern,
document location text
loc.05589 #ab02 the schooner sleepily dropping down the tide the little small astern towed by the rope,
2214
The hurrying tumbling waves and quickbroken crests and slapping;
2215
The strata of colored clouds . . . . the long bar of maroontint away solitary by
                   
itself . . . . the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
2216
The horizon's edge, the flying seacrow, the fragrance of saltmarsh and shoremud;
document location text
loc.00141 #l36 And the odor of the salt marsh is ^ delicious perfume, enough
#l37 And the salt marsh ^ and creek have a delicious odors,
uva.00265 #l01 Odor the smell of the salt marsh, and of the mud and sea‑weed, sea‑gulls—the sights of tThe horizon's edge, the faint shriek of the the flying seacrow,
#l02 the unearthly laugh of the laughing-gull, and the odor of saltmarsh and shoremud. odor.—
2217
These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes and
                   
will always go forth every day,
2218
And these become of him or her that peruses them now.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



92 Leaves of Grass.

2219
WHO learns my lesson complete?
document location text
loc.00005 #l01 Have you learned the my lesson complete:
2220
Boss and journeyman and apprentice? . . . . churchman and atheist?
2221
The stupid and the wise thinker . . . . parents and offspring . . . . merchant and clerk
                   
and porter and customer  . . . . editor, author, artist and schoolboy?
document location text
loc.00163 #l04 In me are the old and young the foolish and the wise observer thinker

2222
Draw nigh and commence,
2223
It is no lesson . . . . it lets down the bars to a good lesson,
document location text
loc.00005 #l02 It is well—it is ^ but the gate to a larger lesson—and And that to another^ : still
2224
And that to another . . . . and every one to another still.
document location text
loc.00005 #l02 It is well—it is ^ but the gate to a larger lesson—and And that to another^ : still
#l03 And every one each successive one opens to another still

2225
The great laws take and effuse without argument,
document location text
duk.00264 #l01 The Great Laws do not treasure chips, and or stick for the odd cent;
2226
I am of the same style, for I am their friend,
document location text
duk.00264 #l02 I am of the same fashion—for I am their friend.—
2227
I love them quits and quits . . . . I do not halt and make salaams.

2228
I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things and the reasons of things,
2229
They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen.

2230
I cannot say to any person what I hear . . . . I cannot say it to myself . . . . it is
                   
very wonderful.

2231
It is no little matter, this round and delicious globe, moving so exactly in its orbit
                   
forever and ever, without one jolt or the untruth of a single second;
2232
I do not think it was made in six days, nor in ten thousand years, nor ten decillions
                   
of years,
2233
Nor planned and built one thing after another, as an architect plans and builds a house.

2234
I do not think seventy years is the time of a man or woman,
2235
Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a man or woman,
2236
Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me or any one else.

2237
Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as every one is immortal,
document location text
loc.00346 #q12 We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any ^ all or ^ the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—^ By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
2238
I know it is wonderful . . . . but my eyesight is equally wonderful . . . . and how I was
                   
conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful,
document location text
loc.00346 #q12 We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any ^ all or ^ the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—^ By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
nyp.00100 #l01 [cut away] born at all is equally wonderful . . . . and that I rose from passed from being a babe in the infantile creeping trance of three years summers and three winters to be articulate child
2239
And how I was not palpable once but am now . . . . and was born on the last day of
                   
May 1819 . . . . and passed from a babe in the creeping trance of three summers
                   
and three winters to articulate and walk . . . . are all equally wonderful.
document location text
nyp.00100 #l01 [cut away] born at all is equally wonderful . . . . and that I rose from passed from being a babe in the infantile creeping trance of three years summers and three winters to be articulate child

2240
And that I grew six feet high . . . . and that I have become a man thirty-six years old
                   
in 1855 . . . . and that I am here anyhow—are all equally wonderful;
2241
And that my soul embraces you this hour, and we affect each other without ever
                   
seeing each other, and never perhaps to see each other, is every bit as
                   
wonderful:
2242
And that I can think such thoughts as these is just as wonderful,
2243
And that I can remind you, and you think them and know them to be true is just as
                   
wonderful,


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 93

2244
And that the moon spins round the earth and on with the earth is equally wonderful,
2245
And that they balance themselves with the sun and stars is equally wonderful.

2246
Come I should like to hear you tell me what there is in yourself that is not just as
                   
wonderful,
2247
And I should like to hear the name of anything between Sunday morning and
                   
Saturday night that is not just as wonderful.





2248
GREAT are the myths . . . . I too delight in them,
document location text
duk.00259 #l01 Great are the myths . . . . I too delight in them,
loc.05589 #l111 I see the old myths
2249
Great are Adam and Eve . . . . I too look back and accept them;
document location text
duk.00259 #l02 Great are Adam and Eve . . . . I too look back and accept them,
loc.00346 #seg100 All around me I hear how great is Adam or Eve—
loc.05589 #l110 I see—Adam and Eve again
2250
Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages, inventors, rulers,
                   
warriors and priests.
document location text
duk.00029 #l01 ^ I perceive that Sages, poets, inventers, benefactors, lawgivers are but only those who think have thought,
duk.00259 #l03 Great between them and me the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages, rulers, warriors and priests.—

2251
Great is liberty! Great is equality! I am their follower,
2252
Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft . . . . where you sail I sail,
2253
Yours is the muscle of life or death . . . . yours is the perfect science . . . . in you I
                   
have absolute faith.

2254
Great is today, and beautiful,
2255
It is good to live in this age . . . . there never was any better.

2256
Great are the plunges and throes and triumphs and falls of democracy,
2257
Great the reformers with their lapses and screams,
2258
Great the daring and venture of sailors on new explorations.

2259
Great are yourself and myself,
document location text
duk.00259 #l04 Great are you . . . . and great am I,
2260
We are just as good and bad as the oldest and youngest or any,
document location text
duk.00259 #l05 We are just as good and bad as the oldest or youngest or nearest any,
loc.00346 #q17 But ^ greatness is the other word for developement, and in my soul to me I know that I am great large and strong as any of them, probably greater.— larger.—
#seg101 Because all that they did I feel that I too could do, and more ^ and that multiplied; ;
2261
What the best and worst did we could do,
document location text
duk.00259 #l06 What the best and the worst did we can do,
2262
What they felt . . do not we feel it in ourselves?
document location text
duk.00259 #l07 What they felt—do we not feel it in ourselves?
2263
What they wished . . do we not wish the same?
document location text
duk.00259 #l08 What they thought—do we not think the same?

2264
Great is youth, and equally great is old age . . . . great are the day and night;
document location text
loc.00025 #l01 How supple is youth,
2265
Great is wealth and great is poverty . . . . great is expression and great is silence.

2266
Youth large lusty and loving . . . . youth full of grace and force and fascination,
document location text
duk.00032 #l01 Great are you, You lusty and loving graceflu youth! but you are great you are not exclusively great, in youth.— graceful and fascinating youth;
loc.00025 #l02 How muscular, how full of love and grace and unspeak able fascination
2267
Do you know that old age may come after you with equal grace and force and
                   
fascination?
document location text
duk.00032 #l02 Your old age [come with?] shall be equally great shall have with resistless majesty and bloom and fascination and love,
loc.00025 #l03 But old age may wear more love and graces and fascinations a thousand fold.

2268
Day fullblown and splendid . . . . day of the immense sun, and action and ambition
                   
and laughter,
document location text
loc.00025 #l04 How large and splendid is the sunlit day
2269
The night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep and restoring darkness.
document location text
loc.00025 #l05 Till the night comes with its mystery and darkness ^ transparent darkness and mystery and the stars,

2270
View side-by-side images (new window)
Wealth Image: University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives Open copies in bibliography (new window) BC_01 DU_01 DU_03 DU_04 LC_01 LC_02 LC_03 LC_04 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_12 LC_13 PC_03 UI_01 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UNL_01 UTA_07 UVa_02 UVa_04 UVa_06
Wealth Note: In these copies, the "W" in the word "Wealth" is printed slightly farther left on the page. Image: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Open copies in bibliography (new window) DU_02 LC_11 LC_14 UTA_01 UTA_02 UTA_03 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_07 UVa_08
with the flush hand and fine clothes and hospitality:
document location text
loc.00025 #l06 How magnificent are riches is wealth that spread over one affording gifts without stint from the ample hand, and superb clothes and hospitality


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



94 Leaves of Grass.

2271
But then the soul's wealth—which is candor and knowledge and pride and enfolding
                   
love:
document location text
loc.00025 #l07 But all riches are wealth is nothing to the soul's, which are is candor and life and all enfolding love,
2272
Who goes for men and women showing poverty richer than wealth?
document location text
loc.00025 #l08 Did not Jesus show that what we call propeoverty is great the greatest riches wealth?

2273
Expression of speech . . in what is written or said forget not that silence is also
                   
expressive,
document location text
yal.00441 #q03 After all there is in eloquence and rage,
#q04 I guess that there is more still in silence.—
2274
That anguish as hot as the hottest and contempt as cold as the coldest may be with-
                   
out words,
document location text
yal.00441 #q01 The greatest anguish is the misery that neither weeps nor complains.—
#q02 The greatest contempt utters not a ^ single word.
2275
That the true adoration is likewise without words and without kneeling.
document location text
yal.00441 #ab01 The greatest love is that which makes no professions
#q02 The greatest contempt utters not a ^ single word.

2276
Great is the greatest nation . . the nation of clusters of equal nations.

2277
Great is the earth, and the way it became what it is,
2278
Do you imagine it is stopped at this? . . . . and the increase abandoned?
2279
Understand then that it goes as far onward from this as this is from the times when
                   
it lay in covering waters and gases.
document location text
duk.00104 #seg01 that in due time the earth ^ beautiful as it is now, and will be as much beyond ^ proportionately different from what it is now, as wh it now is proportionately different from what it was in its earlier gaseous or marine period, uncounted cycles before man and woman grew.

2280
Great is the quality of truth in man,
2281
The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes,
2282
It is inevitably in the man . . . . He and it are in love, and never leave each other.

2283
The truth in man is no dictum . . . . it is vital as eyesight,
2284
If there be any soul there is truth . . . . if there be man or woman there is truth . . . .
                   
If there be physical or moral there is truth,
2285
If there be equilibrium or volition there is truth . . . . if there be things at all upon the
                   
earth there is truth.

2286
O truth of the earth! O truth of things! I am determined to press the whole way
                   
toward you,
2287
Sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the sea after you.

2288
Great is language . . . . it is the mightiest of the sciences,
2289
It is the fulness and color and form and diversity of the earth . . . . and of men and
                   
women . . . . and of all qualities and processes;
2290
It is greater than wealth . . . . it is greater than buildings or ships or religions or
                   
paintings or music.

2291
Great is the English speech . . . . What speech is so great as the English?
2292
Great is the English brood . . . . What brood has so vast a destiny as the English?
2293
It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the new rule,
2294
The new rule shall rule as the soul rules, and as the love and justice and equality
                   
that are in the soul rule.

2295
Great is the law . . . . Great are the old few landmarks of the law . . . . they are the
                   
same in all times and shall not be disturbed.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Leaves of Grass. 95

2296
Great are marriage, commerce, newspapers, books, freetrade, railroads, steamers,
                   
international mails and telegraphs and exchanges.

2297
Great is Justice;
2298
Justice is not settled by legislators and laws . . . . it is in the soul,
document location text
loc.00141 #ab02 * the people of this state shal instead of being ruled by the old complex laws, and the involved machinery of all governments hitherto, shall be ruled mainly by individual character and conviction.—The recognized character of the citizen shall be so pervaded by the best qualities of law and power that law and power shall be superseded from the government and transferred to the citizen
#seg03 Justice does not depend upon is not varied or tempered in the passage of an laws by legislatures.
#seg05 The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation ^ violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.
2299
It cannot be varied by statutes any more than love or pride or the attraction of
                   
gravity can,
document location text
duk.00889 #l01 Does the light or heat pick out? Does the attraction o of ^ gravity pick out?
loc.00141 #seg04 The legislatures cannot settle alter it any more than they can settle love or pride.—or the attraction of gravity.
#seg05 The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation ^ violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.
loc.00142 #p08 The attraction of gravity is the law under which you make your house plumb but that's not what the law is specially made for
nyp.00129 #seg03 Priests and The doctors might all deny the attraction of gravity, and that sublime law power would never complain.—Be thou you like the grand powers.—
2300
It is immutable . . it does not depend on majorities . . . . majorities or what not come
                   
at last before the same passionless and exact tribunal.
document location text
loc.00141 #seg05 The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation ^ violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.

2301
For justice are the grand natural lawyers and perfect judges . . . . it is in their souls,
2302
It is well assorted . . . . they have not studied for nothing . . . . the great includes the
                   
less,
2303
They rule on the highest grounds . . . . they oversee all eras and states and
                   
administrations,

2304
The perfect judge fears nothing . . . . he could go front to front before God,
2305
Before the perfect judge all shall stand back . . . . life and death shall stand back
                   
 . . . . heaven and hell shall stand back.

2306
Great is goodness;
2307
I do not know what it is any more than I know what health is . . . . but I know it is
                   
great.

2308
Great is wickedness . . . . I find I often admire it just as much as I admire good-
                   
ness:
2309
Do you call that a paradox? It certainly is a paradox.

2310
The eternal equilibrium of things is great, and the eternal overthrow of things is
                   
great,
2311
And there is another paradox.

2312
Great is life . . and real and mystical . . wherever and whoever,
2313
Great is death . . . . Sure as life holds all parts together, death holds all parts
                   
together;
2314
Sure as the stars return again after they merge in the light, death is great as life.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



[Reviews and extracts] Note: These copies include an eight-page printed insertion with reviews and extracts from items previously printed in periodicals. In some copies, the insertion has been added at the front of the volume. In others, it has been added at the back. The leaves are sewn into some copies and tipped into others. Three of the reviews were written anonymously by Whitman. These insertions must have been printed sometime after November 10, 1855, the periodical publication date associated with R. W. Griswold's review. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CAI_01 CC_01 CWRU_01 GeC_01 KB_01 LC_05 LC_06 LC_07 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LC_13 LU_01 MSU_01 NIU_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_03 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 PC_07 PC_09 PC_15 PML_04 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UM_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_07 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_02 WC_03 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_05


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Flyleaf] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Endpaper] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Back cover] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05
[Back cover] Note: State C binding. Printed paper wrapper: blue; pink; tan (faded green?). White end papers. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_13 NYPL_02 UVa_07 YU_06


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



View side-by-side images (new window)
[Spine] Note: State B binding. Green cloth. Only the title goldstamped on front cover. Title on back and triple rule border and floral ornaments on sides blindstamped. On spine, only the title goldstamped and no floral ornaments. Pale peach, buff or yellow end papers. Flyleaves. All edges plain. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) AC_02 BL_01 BSU_01 BYU_01 BaU_01 BrU_03 BrU_04 CC_01 CWRU_01 DU_03 GeC_01 HC_01 HU_05 KB_01 LC_02 LC_05 LC_06 LC_08 LC_09 LC_10 LU_01 LU_02 MSU_01 NIU_01 NSUG_01 NYPL_01 NYPL_06 NYPL_07 OSU_01 OWU_02 PC_06 PC_09 PC_10 PC_13 PC_15 PML_02 PSU_01 SUNYBi_01 SU_01 TAMU_01 TPL_01 TTU_01 TU_01 UCB_01 UCSC_01 UC_01 UC_02 UD_02 UNCCH_01 UNCCH_02 UP_03 USC_01 UTA_04 UTA_05 UTA_06 UTA_07 UVa_03 UVa_05 UVa_06 UVa_08 UWM_01 WC_03 WC_04 WUSL_01 WWH_02 YU_04 YU_05
[Spine] Note: State C binding. Printed paper wrapper: blue; pink; tan (faded green?). White end papers. Image: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Open copies in bibliography (new window) LC_13 NYPL_02 UVa_07 YU_06